Do you remember the days before cell phones? Maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re that much younger than me. Unfortunately, I remember them well.
I remember being tied to the phone far too long, because some friends love to chat. I remember looking for a dime if I had to call home. I remember the frustration of busy signals that would last for hours on end. I remember sharing a phone with seven other people and having to get off the line.
I lost track of my husband in the store today, and all I had to do was send a quick text. It wasn’t so easy back in the day. If you lost track of your spouse, you could be waiting for hours to find them again. I know this full well because it happened to us at the mall. We agreed to meet somewhere at a certain time and somehow our wires got crossed. He was at one end of the mall while I impatiently stood at the other.
I realized something about waiting today. It can bring out the ugly in us. I guess that’s where the term “trying your patience” comes from. But while it can bring out the worst in us, it can also bring out the best.
In the same way, waiting on God is a test of our patience. It can bring out the ugly in us as it did in the wilderness when the Israelites waited for Moses to come down from the mountain. Turning to sin, they worshipped a golden calf.
Patience can also reveal our faithfulness as it did in the life of Daniel who mourned and fasted for three weeks. After 21 days, an angel of the Lord stood before Daniel and spoke to him. It’s not that God doesn’t hear our prayers on the first day, but rather there’s much to be gained by patiently waiting. We see this faithfulness throughout scripture as men like Daniel, David, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, and Job refused to give up as they waited on God.
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Tilling the Soil
Read Daniel’s prayer and vision in Daniel Chapter 10.
Planting Hope
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:24-26, NIV)
Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
Instagram: @timewarpwife
Pinterest: @timewarpwife
Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife