Praising In The Waiting

I don't know about any of y'all but the month of June has been extremely difficult for me. Without dishing out the sob story for all of you I just want you to know that waiting is terrible. Whether it is waiting to hear the test results, waiting to see if someone will return to Jesus or meet Him for the first time, or even if it's waiting for Him to answer the one prayer that you've prayed for so long. For lack of a better word it sucks. Plain and simple. The month of June has shown me what it means to wait. To wait for healing, an answered prayer, or even to start a new fire within me for something while I'm at home over the summer. All of us have these periods in our lives where all we want is the Lord to move and to do something but something that does help is knowing that other people are going through a similar thing. We are not unique when it comes to the struggles in our lives. They might be a tad different but playing the victim in front of everyone and shouting “woe is me” brings no glory to the Lord. We are here for the purpose of bringing glory to the Lord.

Abraham waited decades for a son and faithfully continued to praise the Lord regardless of whether he had offspring or not. Why can't I have this kind of faith? Now when the going gets tough we're reminded of this, that we need to be seeking after the Lord in our time of need. But how about when things are going just fine in our lives and it seems like we're just waiting for the ball to drop. I know some of you have not had a bad month and things have been pretty decent for you, so what are we doing in these times to pursue the Lord and make more disciples? We're waiting for the Lord to tell us where to go or who we need to go after, but sometimes all we want to do is "sit back and chill, relax, or even just wait for God's timing". God’s timing is now, we don’t have a time table for how long we will be on this earth, so sitting back and waiting, or even wallowing in self pity, is doing nothing for yourself or the people around you. Others are watching you, especially non-believers and they are hungry for something they don’t know they are hungry for, show them the food! Give them Jesus!

I don’t mean to offend anyone or point out people in your lives, my main reason for writing this is because you have no idea who is looking at you throughout the day, listening and waiting to hear what you have to say. This month in particular has shown me just how lukewarm a fellow Christian can be or even how many people you thought were Christians are truly living in the in between of being a Christian and being an atheist. No one wants to be in any of these situations, much less does a Christian in today’s society want to turn people toward any of these situations. We are called to love others and glorify the Lord while doing it. Praising doesn’t have to be raising your voice so everyone can hear you. It can simply be by your actions, just like Abraham. Trust me, after this month I understand that maybe some days aren’t filled with the praise that you might want to give to God, but the love that He has for you far outweighs any stipulations of what He needs from you. He doesn’t need anything from us, yet the Lord is kind enough to let us be a part of His wonderful creation and plan for this world. Take part in it, don’t just sit back and wait for the rapture because your house in heaven will be very small and the mansion that you deserve simply takes a life dedicated to serving and praising. Simple as that.

May the peace and love of God be with you always,

Leah Carpenter