Pray. Wait. Trust.

Guys it’s officially, technically, Spring. I add technically only because yesterday, our first day of Spring break looked and felt the same as it did the first day of Christmas break, minus the Christmas tree.

I’ve always enjoyed winter, the cozy feeling, sweaters, boots….not sweating… all that good stuff.  But this year once Christmas ended I found this strange yearning for Spring like I’d never experienced before.  In the past I lacked understanding for the tradition where elders migrate to warmer weather (Florida) for a few months like the birds. But this year, I have a new and complete appreciation for the concept. As the weeks and weeks of cold winter stretch on I’ve found myself declaring out loud to others multiple times. “Snowbirds, I finally get the snowbird thing!”

At this point I just want to be warm, I want to see the bright sun and feel it’s warmth hitting my skin!  Instead, yesterday, as I began to write, the snow continued to fall.  All the while, I know this weather is temporary.  There is an end in sight.  Winter won’t last forever, this is something I know and trust. I trust that Spring will eventually come again, just as it does year after year.  We’ve not yet been let down.

Guys, my feelings about this weather brought up so many thoughts, analogies and metaphors to faith and my relationship with Christ. I’m going to share one with you that rang clear to me: Trust.

Who or what am I putting my trust in?

As a Christian I have faith in God and therefore I should also trust. I should seek His will and then trust that He’s got me.

When I am walking in the sun, experiencing abundance of God’s love it’s easy to have faith and trust. But, what happens when I’m praying hard yet it seems my prayers go unanswered, despite following the path I’ve been called down? Those times I feel very alone and in the cold. Do I still trust? Do I wait or instead take matters into my own hands?

It’s easy with the seasons and weather patterns to always trust…right? I mean, it’s clear, we have absolutely NO control. We can’t just say:  this winter is lasting way too long. Let’s fix that. We have to wait it out and keep trusting that we WILL eventually see the sun again, the temperatures will rise.  Spring will undoubtedly come.

Just like we trust we will be brought out of the snow, into the green grasses and new life that is the season of Spring; we have to wait it out and trust God to bring us through those hard seasons in life.  The season where our job stinks but God keeps us in it.  The season where our marriage is a challenge and we are working on it but we feel like there’s no improvement.  Raising kids: It’s so rewarding, but so hard.  There are seasons with very little joy.  You may think “I can’t take another minute of this.”

In all these situations we really have three options:

1. Do Nothing
2. Act Fast
3. Pray. Wait. TRUST.

I’m guessing most of us have used every single one of those options a time or two.

I know there are people who operate strictly within the first category. These are the “It is what it is” types. People who think that things can’t or won’t change anyways, so why try?  To me, that seems hopeless. As Christians we should be full of hope!  When we are hopeless we are separating ourselves from God.

Number two… This is the area I have to work REALLY hard to stay out of.  I’m a chronic doer.  I like to fix things and problem solve.  To me, there is always an answer, always something that can be done!  But taking things into my own hands, acting fast without seeking God’s will, sometimes makes a bad situation worse. I’m just being honest here, this can and does happen.  When it does, we are trusting ourselves over God and that’s a scary place to be.

It is hard work.  It takes effort, but as Christians we should always strive to stay in the third category. That’s wisdom folks.  Always pray then wait.  What is God telling you, what is He providing?  Then, when He provides, trust the provision.  Trust the answer.

PRAY:  And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee of God, That we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.  Judges 18:5 KJV

WAIT:  The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.  Lamentations 3:25

TRUST:  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5-6

I have personally experienced waiting and prayer as a powerful thing.  When you are a work at home mom this can be a hard line to toe.  Sometimes it feels as if God has given me this huge dream, just literally dropped this big thing in my lap and I am lost!  The rest of the time, the times I’m operating with complete trust, it’s as if He’s personally guiding grooming and growing me.  Constantly showing me the next step. I only experience this guidance when I seek it and wait for it.

Trust is an action.

Trusting doesn’t allow me passivity.  Trust is an action.  I have to actively trust.  How?  By following where I am led, accepting the answers He gives to my prayers.  I have to actively be patient.  I know patience sounds simple: sit and wait, right!?  But for me patience requires a lot of work!  (Remember I’m a doer) I have to actively keep my mind calm, drive out anxiety, and avoid the urge to take the reigns.  The only way to that, for me, is constant prayer and reminding that God is in control. Pray. Wait. Trust.

Recently I’ve experienced the most fulfillment and true contentment I’ve ever known in my 30 some years, it has been the most amazing thing: constant joy, but indescribable beyond that.  Then, this week nothing in particular happened but I found myself losing that joy and asking God: “Where are you? …Is this a test?”  The old me may not have thought anything of the change.  But after experiencing the fulfillment and joy that comes with FULLY trusting the Lord, knowing EXACTLY where that joyful feeling came from, I continued on. Pray. Wait. Trust.  In the midst of that snow I found that constant joy again, the joy that only comes from seeking and trusting in Him!

Yesterday I started writing with snow yet falling.  It was a quiet day spent as a family that wouldn’t have happened for a farm wife at this time of year had it been warm and sunny. I didn’t know it, but I needed one more cold winter day, one more day with nothing to do before Spring really arrives. I didnt realize how good it would be for my heart, but God did. Today the sun is shining, the snow is almost gone and Spring is coming.  I just know it!

Remember God know’s our hearts, our needs and He provides. It’s our job to Pray. Wait. and always TRUST.

Blessings,

Rita