DAY 44: TUESDAY

WHEN WAITING STARTS TO FEEL LIKE WASTED TIME

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;” Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

MY PRAYER FOR YOU

Dear Heavenly Father,

Today I pray for the woman who is tired of waiting. You know the prayers she has prayed repeatedly, the things she hoped would have changed by now, and the places where she wonders whether she should be farther along than she is.

When she looks at someone else's life and begins measuring her progress against theirs, bring her attention back to the life You have entrusted to her. When she feels pressure to make something happen simply because waiting has become uncomfortable, give her patience. When she mistakes movement for progress, teach her to recognize the work You are doing beneath the surface.

Do not let this season become empty space she is merely trying to survive until something better arrives. Show her what is being built here. Strengthen her character, deepen her faith, mature her discernment, and teach her to live fully in the life she has today.

And as she raises her children, help her resist rushing their growth too. Give her patience with the slow work of maturity. Teach her to plant faithfully without demanding immediate fruit.

Help her trust that slow does not mean wasted.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

DEVOTIONAL

There is a particular kind of frustration that comes when you have been faithful for a while and nothing seems to be happening.

You prayed.

You surrendered.

You did the work.

You made changes.

You stopped going back.

You tried to obey.

And still, you are waiting.

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles;” Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

We like that verse because of the wings.

We like the running without becoming weary and the walking without fainting.

But before any of that comes waiting.

And waiting can feel terribly unproductive.

We live in a world that celebrates visible progress. We understand accomplishments we can measure. Finish the project. Lose the weight. Earn the degree. Get the promotion. Buy the house. Repair the relationship. Find the spouse. Reach the goal.

We like before and after pictures.

Waiting often does not give us one.

You may look almost exactly where you were six months ago while something important is changing underneath.

That can make you wonder whether anything is happening at all.

But some of God's deepest work happens where very little appears to be happening.

Think about a seed.

Once it is planted, there is a period when you cannot see anything.

You water dirt.

That is essentially what it looks like.

If you did not understand what was happening underneath the soil, you might assume nothing was happening.

But roots are forming before anything breaks through the surface.

That matters because sometimes we want visible fruit before we have developed the roots necessary to sustain it.

We ask God for the relationship, opportunity, ministry, responsibility, healing, change, or next season.

God may be doing something first that nobody else can see.

He may be teaching you how to recognize what is healthy.

He may be changing the way you respond to disappointment.

He may be exposing why you wanted something so desperately.

He may be strengthening boundaries you will need later.

He may be teaching you how to remain faithful without constant affirmation.

He may be untangling your identity from what you accomplish, who chooses you, or how needed you feel.

He may be teaching you peace before giving you the promise you thought would create it.

That last one is important.

Because if you believe the next thing will finally give you peace, you may spend the waiting season trying to get through it rather than allowing God to form you in it.

Then the promise becomes responsible for something it was never capable of carrying.

A relationship cannot become your peace.

A child cannot become your peace.

Financial security cannot become your peace.

A ministry cannot become your peace.

A healed relationship cannot become your peace.

An answered prayer cannot become your peace.

Those things can be beautiful gifts.

But they make terrible gods.

If you need the promise in order to be okay, you may cling to it with a desperation that prevents you from receiving it well.

That is part of what waiting can expose.

What have I asked this thing to give me that only God can give?

Security?

Identity?

Worth?

Belonging?

Purpose?

Proof that I am loved?

Proof that my life matters?

Proof that God has not forgotten me?

Waiting brings those questions to the surface.

And that means waiting is not necessarily the space between the important parts of your life.

Waiting may be one of the important parts.

You are living now.

Your life has not been placed on hold because something has not happened yet.

Do not spend five years saying, “When this happens, then I will live.”

When I get married. When the children are older. When the custody situation changes. When I have more money. When I lose the weight. When I finish school. When the relationship heals. When God finally tells me what I am supposed to do.

Some things genuinely will make life easier when they change.

But today still belongs to you.

There are people to love today. There is obedience available today. There is laughter available today. There is work worth doing today. There are conversations worth having today. There is God to know today.

Do not make the promise so important that you miss the life happening before it.

And do not rush into something simply because waiting feels unbearable.

Sometimes we make poor decisions because movement feels better than uncertainty.

We contact someone we know we should leave alone. We accept a relationship that does not demonstrate healthy character. We force an opportunity. We spend money we do not have. We abandon a process because it is taking too long. We lower a standard because loneliness hurts. We interfere in something our child needs time to work through.

We tell ourselves, “At least I'm doing something.”

But doing something is not always better than waiting.

Sometimes patience is the action.

This applies to parenting too.

Children grow slowly.

You can teach the same lesson many times before you see evidence that it has taken root.

You remind.

You correct.

You model.

You pray.

You repeat yourself.

And sometimes you wonder whether they hear anything you say.

Then one day, you hear your child say something you have been teaching for years.

The seed was there.

It was growing where you could not see it.

Parenting requires tremendous respect for processes you cannot control.

You cannot force maturity.

You cannot demand genuine faith.

You cannot rush emotional development.

You cannot make a child understand something before they are ready to understand it.

You can create conditions where growth is encouraged.

You can teach.

You can model.

You can establish boundaries.

You can give consequences.

You can pray.

You can remain consistent.

Then you wait for fruit.

That can be difficult when fear enters the picture.

If your child is struggling, you may feel urgency to fix everything immediately.

Sometimes urgent action is necessary.

But not every struggle is an emergency.

Some things are development. Some things require repetition. Some things require experience. Some things require time.

You need discernment to know the difference.

The same is true of your own growth.

You are not going to master everything in ninety days. You may finish this devotional and still struggle with something we talked about on Day 4.

That does not mean the work failed. Transformation is not measured by never struggling again. Sometimes transformation looks like recognizing the pattern sooner.

Pausing a little longer.

Recovering more quickly.

Apologizing sooner.

Choosing differently one time where you once would have chosen the old way automatically.

That is growth.

Don’t despise it because it is small.

You are planting roots, and roots are not wasted simply because nobody can see them yet.

TAKE A MOMENT

Think about something you have been waiting for.

Now ask yourself a different question than, “When is this finally going to happen?”

Ask:

What is God forming in me while I wait?

Consider whether you have been treating this season as something to escape instead of somewhere you are actually living.

JOURNAL WITH GOD

What am I most tired of waiting for right now?

What have I believed will finally become better about me or my life when that thing happens?

Have I placed pressure on an answered prayer, relationship, opportunity, or future season to give me something only God can provide?

Where can I see evidence that God has been forming something in me even though my circumstances have not changed?

Have I ever rushed into a decision because doing something felt easier than continuing to wait?

What part of my life am I tempted to postpone enjoying until something changes?

Where am I becoming impatient with the pace of one of my children's growth?

Am I expecting immediate fruit from something that may require consistent planting, teaching, prayer, and time?

What would faithful waiting look like for me today?

YOUR TIME WITH GOD

Today, bring God the thing you are tired of waiting for.

You do not have to pretend you enjoy waiting.

Tell Him you are tired.

Tell Him what you hoped would have happened by now.

Tell Him what you are afraid the waiting means.

Then ask Him to show you what is already growing.

Maybe you are stronger than you were.

Maybe you are less willing to settle.

Maybe you recognize unhealthy patterns sooner.

Maybe you are learning that loneliness does not require you to return to an unhealthy relationship.

Maybe you are becoming more patient with your children.

Maybe you are beginning to understand that your worth does not rise and fall with someone else's approval.

Maybe you are learning to enjoy a life that is still unfinished.

Do not dismiss those things because they are not the answer you originally asked for.

Roots matter.

Then consider where you may be rushing someone else.

Perhaps one of your children is learning something slowly.

Keep teaching.

Keep modeling.

Keep appropriate boundaries.

Keep praying.

But leave room for growth to take time.

And give yourself that room too.

You do not need to manufacture progress today.

Be faithful with what is in front of you.

Water what has been planted.

Let God handle what is happening underneath the soil.

Slow does not mean nothing is happening.

Waiting is not wasted when God is using it to grow roots strong enough to hold what comes next.