Still Waiting
Waiting on something is one of the hardest things. As a kid I used to HATE having to wait until my birthday. Or having to wait for Christmas. Then I had to wait for school to be out. Or wait for the day I could get my driver's license. And so on and so on.
Of course, there's also the kind of waiting that wakes you up every three hours, mind racing, hoping it will all work out. This is the waiting of adulthood, the "blessing" of growing older. The worst case scenarios play out in our heads. There's the hope that it will be okay. But there's also the fear that it won't. I'm afraid I might have put my folks through some of those tortuous moments in my travels abroad.
We're kind of in one of those waiting moments right now. Our house back in West Virginia is supposed to close any day now. We're not getting a lot of information about it, so we're left to guess as to what might be happening. Are the buyers still solvent and able to buy? Is their bank just plowing through a lot of closings? Will we get a call any moment to sign papers? (The picture is of us on our front porch back in Morgantown.)
It's complicated, of course, by the fact that we have a house here we want to buy. It's not the perfect house -- no such house exists -- but it would fit our needs nicely. We'd hate to have to let it go,
but I worry that we may have to do just that. And I worry about other things. Will we end up losing money? Will the sale of our house back in WV fall through & we have to find another buyer? God has provided for us so richly in the past -- not always as we would script it, but always in a way that we can't argue with. I'm sure it will all come together, but the uncertainty is sometimes overwhelming.
I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who is out of work and waiting, hoping for a job offer that will cover some bills. Or the person who is waiting for a biopsy result, hoping it's benign. Or the person whose ultrasound looks suspicious and they need you to do more tests. In comparison, my kind of waiting is so minor, so immaterial.
How wonderful (and challenging) it is to take the words of Paul to heart: "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:6-7).
Of course, there's also the kind of waiting that wakes you up every three hours, mind racing, hoping it will all work out. This is the waiting of adulthood, the "blessing" of growing older. The worst case scenarios play out in our heads. There's the hope that it will be okay. But there's also the fear that it won't. I'm afraid I might have put my folks through some of those tortuous moments in my travels abroad.
We're kind of in one of those waiting moments right now. Our house back in West Virginia is supposed to close any day now. We're not getting a lot of information about it, so we're left to guess as to what might be happening. Are the buyers still solvent and able to buy? Is their bank just plowing through a lot of closings? Will we get a call any moment to sign papers? (The picture is of us on our front porch back in Morgantown.)
It's complicated, of course, by the fact that we have a house here we want to buy. It's not the perfect house -- no such house exists -- but it would fit our needs nicely. We'd hate to have to let it go,
but I worry that we may have to do just that. And I worry about other things. Will we end up losing money? Will the sale of our house back in WV fall through & we have to find another buyer? God has provided for us so richly in the past -- not always as we would script it, but always in a way that we can't argue with. I'm sure it will all come together, but the uncertainty is sometimes overwhelming.I can't imagine what it must be like for someone who is out of work and waiting, hoping for a job offer that will cover some bills. Or the person who is waiting for a biopsy result, hoping it's benign. Or the person whose ultrasound looks suspicious and they need you to do more tests. In comparison, my kind of waiting is so minor, so immaterial.
How wonderful (and challenging) it is to take the words of Paul to heart: "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:6-7).
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