Everyone is waiting for something. Regardless of where you are in life—at home tending to young children, or climbing the ladder of success in your career—we’re all wondering when that next something is going to come about.

What is it you’re anticipating the chance to see or hear at this very moment, and the delay is driving you bonkers in the meantime?

Common Waiting Experiences:

• Waiting for graduation day (for yourself or your kids)
• Waiting for the weekend/holiday/vacation
• Waiting to meet Mr./Ms. Right
• Waiting to get married
• Waiting for a positive pregnancy test
• Waiting for a job interview
• Waiting for your first “real” job
• Waiting for the kids to grow up
• Waiting for financial security
• Waiting to buy the perfect house

The waiting “game” is a hard one to play! But over the years, I’ve sat expectantly with my own list of events to take place, and guess what? They all came about! Despite my hours of exasperation, wondering what could be taking so long for something, anything to happen—each situation finally resolved.

However, I know from experience that the chasm between today and someday is where the game gets rough! This span of time can either be played in the brightness of anticipation, or in a fog of doubt. Regrettably, many choose the route of doubt and despair—thus becoming overly-anxious in their waiting time.

Times I’ve been overly anxious during a prolonged waiting period, I’ve experienced some of these things:

• Restlessness/feeling like something big is about to happen at any moment
• Waking throughout the night with the situation on your mind
• Talking about the situation to excess with others
• Putting off other decisions while waiting for the worrisome thoughts to resolve
• Feeling in continual need of reassurance from others that “everything will be ok”

Obviously, becoming a bundle of nerves as you wait for answers is not good for your body, your outlook on life, or your relationships. Certainly, God knows that worry (in the waiting) is a tendency for all of us, so He shared these simple words of illustration and instruction found in Matthew 6:25-27:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

We’ve established the fact that everyone is waiting on something to come about in their life—some things bigger than others. We also know how hard the waiting time can be when we’re looking forward to moving on to that next something.

In the following week I’ll share some tips on how to embrace this waiting time by actively working toward the goal. Stay tuned for “Moving Forward as You Wait—Part 2.”