Wait!

One of my friends and co-workers, Laurie Kay, added the newest member to her family last night, Lauren Faith. Lauren was actually born about 5 weeks early, but for Laurie and all her friends and family, the wait was certainly a long one. Laurie has been on bed rest since January 1, and on hospital bed rest for the last two weeks! I shudder at the thought . . .

What really impressed me about Laurie Kay, however, was the way that she used this season of waiting. She could have complained, felt sorry for herself, and wasted it away, but every time I saw Laurie, she was nothing but positive, doing whatever she needed to do to bring forth this new little life. In fact, during these last two weeks in the hospital, I watched amazed as Laurie would listen to, care for, and share Jesus with nurses, doctors, or other patients who would come around her. I don't know of too many people who would forget being in labor in the hospital for two weeks, instead seeing it as an opportunity to be Christ for them.

Laurie exhibited to me a truth that God revealed to me about waiting a little while ago, one which I sadly need to apply better. I've never been one to enjoy waiting and all those verses about "waiting on the LORD" were really hard for me to take. As I was praying about this, however, God took me to some passages at the end of the Gospels and the beginning of Acts.

The disciples had an expectation and an understanding (though limited) of who Jesus was. They believed Him to be the Messiah, God's promised One, who would save them and deliver them from oppression (namely the Romans). So, when Jesus died, when they watched Him gasp His last breaths and they placed Him in a tomb, all their dreams, hopes, and expectations went with Him. We see the disciples huddled in a room, cowering in fear, doing nothing, waiting for some unknown revelation of what to do next.

That's where Jesus finds them, and suddenly, their entire world is turned upside down . . . again. He starts talking to them and they start connecting all those mysterious and obscure teachings that He had said and in a moment of divine inspiration, they begin to understand why He died and who He fully was. I would imagine they thought something like, "Wow! I get it now. He died and now rose again and surely NOW He will complete the whole picture by saving us from the Romans. Fantastic!"

Then He flies off into the sky. Who saw that coming?!?

And so, in Acts 1 & 2, we find the disciples once again huddled in a room, waiting for some unknown revelation, and while the scene seems all too familiar, it's entirely different. This time, the disciples were obedient to do the last thing Jesus told them (wait in the room for something called "the Holy Spirit"), but their waiting wasn't just sitting there twiddling their thumbs. It was a very active waiting, praying, worshiping, meeting, even picking a new disciple. They were committed to actively waiting there until God told them otherwise, and who knows how God used that time to prepare them for what was next.

I like how my Bible Dictionary defines waiting: "to stay, serve or attend to; to patiently anticipate." It's more like a picture of waiting as a server in a restaurant than sitting around doing nothing until the season of waiting is over.

And so, I pray that God gives me grace to stay and serve Him in a season of waiting or fulfillment, to patiently anticipate how I can best attend to His needs wherever He has me, trusting He'll make it very clear to move me on whenever He wants.

Laurie Kay, thanks for being such a picture of a Godly Waiter and congratulations on the way that God is moving you on to a new season!