The Waiting Room...

Waiting is one of the hardest things to do and almost none of us likes to do it!

When you really, really want something and it seems to be within your reach but just far enough that you can’t grasp it and take hold of it, it’s hard and can be very frustrating. Sometimes during the wait, we begin to doubt ourselves, doubt God, and become embittered with others.

It’s as if we take the wait personally, but in the wrong way. We become overly critical and oftentimes read too much into it. Because we’ve been waiting a while, we foolishly assume we must not be good enough, or we will never be good enough, or that people feel we are undeserving, and we presume that’s how God must feel as well.

I remember as a child, waiting to be picked for the kickball team at recess felt like an eternity. Hearing my friends names called and gleefully chosen, while I waited on the line and was eventually ‘assigned’ but only by process of elimination, was simply the worst. Why didn’t they want me? I knew how to kick the ball, and I could run fast too, but why didn’t they want me on their team? What was wrong with me?

Not being chosen caused me to walk with my head hung down and it unknowingly tampered with my self-esteem and self-worth. Now maybe you’re thinking, that’s just something kids go through, but those same feelings and those same thoughts can plague adults too. There are certain times as women, where we want to be chosen. We do not want to be the last pick or someone's last resort.

Sometimes we are just as talented, just as skilled and undeniably anointed, but it feels like we are invisible and overlooked, which can cause us to ask those same questions we asked as a child. Why don’t they choose me? Why don’t they want me to work on their team? Do they think I’m not good enough? Why don’t they like me? Why won’t they give me a chance? Why do they only call me when the one they picked is unavailable?

May I encourage you today? If you are asking yourself these questions, then you are asking all the wrong questions! You are not invisible. You are not overlooked. There is nothing wrong with you at all. You are talented. Your gift is valuable and the hand of God rests upon you. You are beautiful, capable, and purposed by God. You are not on the outside looking in.

You are in the Waiting Room.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV.

My dear sister, “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” Habakkuk 2:3 KJV. Like checking in for an appointment and being asked to sit in the waiting room, you have been checked in and when your appointed time comes, God will call your name. God will announce you. Doors that were once closed will swing open. You will have your seat at the table. Your gift will be front and center.

So, embrace the waiting room. Stay focused. Stay in position. Sharpen your skills. Keep doing the work. Not for them, but for God. And always remember that “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love…” (Hebrews 6:10 KJV)

Stay in the waiting room and resist the urge to leave…because if you leave the waiting room, you’ll miss it when your name is called!