Hello Precious,

29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31

Let’s talk about waiting. I really do hate the idea of having to wait for something. This is not meant as an offense to anyone, but I think as a Nigerian, waiting for anything is extra hard. How do I endure the wait in long queues, especially knowing that there will be some people who cheat. Like why can’t you wait like the rest of us? On top of that, there are people, like me, who need the special prayer for patience every now and then. Gosh! I find myself praying to be patient over and over again.

Let me tell you, be very careful what you pray for. If you really don’t want an answer to something, don’t pray for it, because God will give it to you. I’ve prayed for patience and God has often given me reasons to wait for things, to learn not to react when I’m annoyed, and most importantly, to trust Him. 

25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)
Romans 8:25

I don’t know how you handle waiting on things, but on a scale of 1-10, all I can say is God is helping me 😂 

But there are levels to waiting really- If you think waiting is hard when you’re on the receiving end, then you’re in for something interesting. Waiting when you’re the one on the other end is just as hard. It makes me wonder how God does it when He has answered our prayers and we haven’t received it.Have you ever wanted to do something for someone and had to wait till when they got it? 

It’s absolutely nerve-wracking! Planning a surprise or having to give someone something you know they need can really test your patience. If you’re anything like me, you’d have analyzed the different ways they’d feel when they get the gift 🎁 and really can’t wait till they do.

I sent someone a surprise and gosh I was so anxious for the gift to get there. I kept calling and asking when the package 📦 will be delivered.

Indeed, let no one who [a]waits on You be ashamed;
Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
Psalm 25:3

This must be how God feels when He’s sent our blessings our way without us ever knowing they were enroute. He will probably ask for ETAs a billion times, trying to ensure the answers get there at the right time, tracking the movements of the person that’s to be gifted to ensure they don’t miss it. I was on a call with the person just to ensure it got to them and not delivered to someone else. I was overjoyed seeing the excitement because of what I had done. All I could do was imagine God’s face when I get an answer to any of my prayer. I called the person who sent the package on my behalf several times. I wanted to know why there was a delay with the delivery. I had been given a specific time and the package was not there, what was happening? Meanwhile, the person who was to be surprised was unaware of anything. I wonder if I would still have been excited about the gift getting there if I could predict that the person would not be happy with the gift or if there had been some sort of complain or insult that day. When our blessings are on the way, we need to still stay in constant communication with God and have an attitude of gratitude. God is always excited about doing things for us, so we need to always be ready to receive from Him.

Psalm 123:2 

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.

I thought that was it, but it happened again. This time, it wasn’t a gift but an idea and I could draw another parallel with God. I wanted to get my friend involved in something and gosh I couldn’t wait for her to say yes to my proposal. As if that wasn’t enough, I wanted to hear every detail about what was happening. I brought it up in every conversation, subtle and not so subtle. Like let’s talk about it and see how things go from here now. I was also telling everyone that knows her about it just because I wanted to get the ball rolling by getting the conversation started by myself. Arrgggh God, well done. How does God do it? Waiting for His Will to be done in our lives.

Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

I had to tell myself to stay out of it and let her handle things on her own, trusting that she’s smart enough to let things work well. When God gives you an idea 💡 or works to get you something that involves your effort as well, He trusts you enough to get things done. As much as He wants everything to work according to His will, He believes you are properly equipped to get things done on your own. However, He wants you to still talk to Him about everything and ask for counsel where needed. Know this- God trusts you! I’m confident that I can handle everything God puts in my care because He is available when I need Him.

I have populated this post with some of my favorite verses that has to do with patience and they’ve really been anchoring me and teaching me to wait on God. If you see in those verses, waiting on God goes well with hope, faith, and trust in God. As you wait, what do you anchor your hope upon? Who do you believe in? or better still, whose words are you holding onto? And most importantly, do you trust God to come through for you?

The beautiful thing about God is that there’s nothing you are going through or will ever go through that He doesn’t have a promise written in the word. Please search the scripture and find the word to anchor your hope upon.

I shouldn’t leave you without my favorite verse on waiting and hoping in God. Our very own Apostle Paul penned down these words, but they are God’s words to you:

Romans 5:2-5 TPT
2Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God’s glory! 3But that’s not all! Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. 4And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. 5And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!