Do you trust in God's timing for the big things on your "wish list"? Whether it is to bring you that perfect mate, to get that new job or big promotion, to lead you to the right church, for healing of a sick loved one, to be successful in school, the question is how do you handle the period between when you bring everything before God in prayer and supplication, and when you receive a reply? Christians intellectually understand that God is not a magic genie whereby we snap our fingers and are immediately lavished with his gracious outpouring. However, in our hearts and in our minds we are impatient. We demand a quick answer. We want our dream spouse to show up at our door that night and ring the doorbell, we want to get a phone call out of the blue with that job offer, we want to drive by a church and have it light up at our passing, we want the doctor to come to us with a miraculous report of healing, and we want to ace all of our exams. I don't know about you, but contrary to how scripture instructs us to pray, my prayers for the "big things" are usually correlated with an ever-present anxiety. Of course my level of anxiety and fretting and worry and anguish tends to steadily rise as more and more time passes. Sometimes my life seems to hover in a mode of depression while I stew and wait. Why is God not coming through for me. Am I not worth it? Is God not real? Is there some past sin that I am being penalized for? Did I not pray in the right way? Have I received my answer as no and missed it? The frustration can amount to such a din that it takes over my mind and sours me for all else in life.
But what if, what if, instead of making bouillabaisse or chilorio or gumbo or ragout, I did something altogether different, something positive during this waiting time. What if I took advantage of the time I was given to increase the odds. I could learn how to find satisfaction with myself that would make me more attractive to finding a wife, or work on my skills training to help with landing that new job, or talk to people about their church and visit different services in my area, or learn more about the medical conditions and associated treatments to be more engaged and knowledgeable when those close to me get sick, or took some time to study my course work? Perhaps it might be that I will be much better prepared when God finally answers my prayers. Perhaps that is what he was giving me an opportunity to do all along.
