Strength in Waiting: Why Does God Make Us Wait?

Does anyone just love waiting? Waiting through multiple red lights or in New York style traffic jams? Waiting on your name to be called at a restaurant when you KNOW you got there before those people who were just seated? Waiting in doctor’s offices surrounded by coughing sick people, knowing you’re contracting more and more viruses each minute that ticks by? Waiting for your favorite TV show to buffer and resume because your internet is constantly failing you at the worst times?

Let’s face it, most of us really HATE waiting. And what in the world did we do while waiting before Smartphones?! I mean really. Did we TALK to people around us, people we didn’t know?! (That is a whole different topic for someone else’s blog…but I do feel our ability to wait patiently has diminished in today’s society of instant gratification).

And I admit that I personally have ALWAYS been bad at waiting. I am an anxious person by nature and waiting only elevates and exaggerates my anxious thoughts. I am better if I just jump into something rather than stew over it for days, weeks, months.

So this foster care waiting thing has been tough. So far, 5 months of WAITING. March 1st we committed to doing this and I remember during the first class they said to expect the whole process of getting approved to take 4-6 months. In my head I had decided WE would take 3 or 4 (lol). I would get everything done in record time and be the first EVER to be approved in not 6 months, but 3! Well, it is looking like we won’t be breaking any records…in fact we will be airing on the SLOW end, probably getting approved 5-6 months after the start line (God willing, in the month of August!).

Our fingerprints, turns out, were never submitted (computer glitch on that Friday in March we were printed). And the paperwork that goes along with those fingerprints…only good for 30 days, thus, expired. So we resubmitted everything and it has been “expidited” according to the state workers. At first, I am not going to lie, I was a little disappointed after news of the glitch (okay more than a little).

But then, this week, both of my toddlers contracted Hand Foot and Mouth disease and my husband was away in New York (where all that fun traffic is) for work (and it was my 30th bday but that is beside the point!).

Boy was I feeling so patient. TOTALLY ok with the foster care journey to approval taking this long (ha). I was imagining if we had even more kids to catch it, more oatmeal/epsom salt/coconut oil baths to give, more feet to rub Calamine lotion all over, more kids not sleeping at night, more smoothies to blend and serve. I know God would have provided, but still, for one week, I was SO patient with the foster care wait.

Now though, the blisters are starting to scab over, the kids are sleeping again, the husband is back, and I am feeling impatient again.

But I am reminded of a quote by Neal A. Maxwell: “Faith in God includes Faith in HIS timing.”

Not my timing. Only His timing is perfect.

♥ 3 Reasons Why God May Make Us WAIT:

(In general, and specifically related to our foster care wait)

He is arranging circumstances. Maybe the child (or children) we are supposed to care for isn’t (or aren’t) in care yet. Or maybe they are in care, but will need to be moved to a new home at the time we are officially approved. Maybe they aren’t even BORN yet (there is a real possibility we could get a newborn, possibly one born of a mother struggling with addiction). So we wait. We wait on the right time, the right child, the right circumstance…trusting that God is ALWAYS right.
God is working on our hearts. I have had a lot of time to think, to hone in on our motive behind doing this, to educate myself about trauma and how to best parent children from hard places, to watch videos on foster care from all angles of the crisis (from the perspectives of foster parents, foster children, biological families and parents, social workers, etc), and to pray (for our journey, for the children that will come into our home, and for the biological families in hard times).
He is protecting us from unseen danger. If we rush God’s timing, we can run ourselves into unexpected problems. When I see a bad wreck on the interstate, for example, I always think, what if I had left home 5 minutes earlier, or NOT gotten caught in that traffic jam? I may have become a part of the pile up. And what sort of foster care “pile up” might we run into if we rush God’s timing on all of this?! I am perfectly content waiting on Him and His protection.

Is there something YOU are waiting on now? Could the wait be God arranging YOUR circumstances? Could He be working on YOUR heart? Could He be protecting YOU from unseen danger?

I pray that you find unexplainable peace in your waiting, that God strengthens your faith, empowers your heart, and shields & protects you. May you never outrun God’s best for your life.