Good Things Come to those Who Wait

Arise and Shine for the Glory of the Lord has risen among us.  (Isaiah 60:1)

The other day I went outside and I took notice of something.  There was change in the crispy cool morning air.  Leaves collecting upon the dew-kissed grass and turning brown.  At night, the screeching cries of the cicadas signal me change has occurred.  The last time I heard that sound filling my ears, my youngest son was a baby.  He was just starting to walk and one landed on the side of his head.  My kids screamed in terror as he walked with a huge smile on his face, like "what?" As the cicada piggybacked his head.  He is 15 years old now.  The buzz in the night air reminds me that time has flown by and one cycle has ended and another begins. 

I heard the Lord tell me through the mouth of a friend and Holy Spirit twice within a day, "Good things come to those who wait."  What have you been waiting for?  What have you been hoping for?  What have you been standing fast for?  What have you been praying, believing, crying out for?  I believe as we are upon summer turning into fall, we are in a "due" season.

As the announcement of pregnancy indicates 'waiting'; when it's 'due' season...there's discomfort, agitation, anticipation, excitement, and relief.  I believe many of us are in a 'due' season.  It's a 'now is the time' season.  The Lord tells us not to give up when we are doing good, for in due season....We shall REAP....IF...if what?  We do not faint...or grow weary...or give up! (Galatians 6:9)

When a women in waiting finally has reached her due season, the baby will be the reward of all her suffering...  The baby will be her gift of waiting and laboring for the past season she is now ending and the new season she is entering.  Every season is different.  Every season brings change. Every season will test our character, strength, patience, and endurance.  Some seasons are dark and cold.  Some seasons are sunny, bright and warm.  Some seasons sprout with new life and abundance.  Some seasons usher forth harvest and crisp, fresh ways and days.  God has given us the gift of seasons that change.  Could you imagine the same old, same old?  I personally, would get very bored.  Each new season, brings new challenges, joys, dreams, hopes, excitements, and trials.  It's in each new season, that we grow, whether we realize it or not. 

There is a time and a season for everything under the sun!  That is why it's so crucial not to compare your season with someone else's season.  We are all in different seasons.  How you react during your season is a part of your testing and growth.  Waiting is so hard, especially for the impatient or child-like.  If you're a dreamer, all that you can do while waiting is dream of what will be or how it will be or when it will be. If you're a planner and goal-oriented person, then you have difficulty in the waiting, as well, because it's out of your control.  You have to trust God for one season to end in order for the other to begin.  As I heard Holy Spirit speak to me while I was sleeping, 'Good things come to those who wait', I heard the John Waller song, 'While I'm waiting.' in my spirit.  It was the theme song of the movie 'Fireproof.'

So in the waiting, our focus needs to be on the one who holds our days in his hands.  Our heart needs to be steadfast in the fact that our GOD is good.  His desire is to give us hope and a future.  We may plan our lives out, but he directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9).  He has planned the abundant life for us.  We need to remain in the truth of who God is while we are waiting. 

As the seasons change from one to another in your life, may you be kept in perfect peace as you continually declare the works of God's goodness and faithfulness in your life.  Keep your mind on Him.  Trust HIM for all that is good and perfect to flow in and through you as you are transformed from glory to glory.
 
In the waiting of seasons to change, think about all the seeds you have planted in each season along the way.  As a woman in waiting, so it is with planting seeds into the earth's soil.  There is a waiting time...But after the waiting is over, life begins to spring forth and fruit is produced!  It's harvest time of all those seeds planted in the planting seasons of your life!

The other day the Lord gave me a thought to ponder.  I have read books where some chapters are VERY long and VERY detailed and mid-way through the chapter, you basically get the point and your over the topic and ready to move onto the next chapter.  Me needing to complete what I begin, forces myself to finish that chapter.  I know what the point is. I'm tired and falling asleep and so ready to turn the page to a fresh new exciting chapter.  However, I know the "right thing to do" is to finish the chapter, regardless, of how I feel.  Sometimes, we are so ready to move on, the right thing of following through is to finish WELL.  Finish that chapter in your life's story, whether or not you are SO over it!  It's in the waiting of finishing well, that the exhilarating new chapter will come.  That next chapter is a brand new start, a new beginning, a new season....After the waiting, good things come!

Another very important thing about starting a new chapter, is not continually rereading the last chapter.  You have to turn the pages forward each day and let go of the former pages in order to complete that chapter to move on to the next!

What God has begun  in you and through you, He will complete!  It will be good!  He is faithful!  He believes in us even when we do not believe in ourselves.  He is always with us even when we feel we are all alone.  He is the writer of our story and we are the instruments in His hands.  Trust Him in the waiting.  Worship Him in the waiting.  Thank Him in the waiting.  Good things truly do come to those who wait!

So let's rest in the fact that the chapter we are currently in right now, will be completed.  The season that we are in now, will eventually end.  God will direct and guide us each step of the way if we keep our focus and eyes on the prize.  What is the prize?  Our purpose.  Our destiny.  The race set out before us. 

Father,
We choose to trust you!  We will run and not grow weary.  We will hope in the fact that you are faithful to complete this chapter that we are in; no matter how long and poignant it may seem to be.  We thank you for knowing us before you placed us in our mother's womb.  We thank you that you called us and knew us before we were even conceived.  May we align our will to yours, Lord.  May we completely surrender and abandon our sinful ways and walk in righteousness and holiness and may we keep our eyes on the prize.  May we hear the cheers from heaven saying, 'Run...you can do it!   It will be so worth it!  Don't give up!  Keep running!  Keep believing!  Keep trusting!"  May we reap the harvest that is coming in our DUE seasons!  May the fruit be plentiful and tasty.  O God, you are good!  You're never gonna let us go!  You are a good, good Father!  Help us endure!  Help us in our weaknesses.  You are surely our strength and our mighty fortress!  We love you, Lord!