To Those Sitting in the Waiting Room

In the last few months, it has felt like I am a permanent resident of the waiting room. We’re talking I’ve unpacked all my favorite sweaters and hung up pictures of my friends and my dog because I am waking up in and coming back to this room every night.

I think about waiting a lot. Honestly, college itself can feel like a long, weird waiting room. It’s a place of feeling not quite like a real adult but definitely not being a child either. You are waiting to find good friendships and what major your calling falls under. You study your booty off and wait for the grade to go back up after a bad math test. You don’t get the internship that could lead to your dream job that you’ve been studying so hard for. You’re sitting in singleness way longer than your roommates and friends. You wait for God to reveal what state He wants you to live in after graduation. In other ways, you may be waiting for forgiveness, for healing from a broken heart, freedom from a mental illness, or for peace. It can be easy to think of these times as not “real life” or as unimportant. I tend to forget that college and other waiting periods are, in fact, real life.

If you’re like me, you think that you’re waiting because you haven’t prayed enough or that you are drowning in sin more than usual. You tell yourself you aren’t good enough for what you want. The devil likes to use waiting as a chance to separate you from God and others by making you feel isolated, inadequate, and alone. When you look for a reason to justify the "uncomfortableness" of waiting, you can become angry at God. When you convince yourself there is no good reason for the waiting, the devil has you believing you aren’t good enough for God and that He has overlooked you. By believing this, friends, we lose the power of God’s love and grace.

Let’s get something straight right away, the beauty of the cross is that we don’t have to be perfect to come to God’s feet. He has never overlooked you and thankfully we don’t have to be smudge free before God is able to use us!

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” –Romans 5:8

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” -2 Corinthians 12:9

I love these two verses because they both start with “but”. That tiny word reminds me that even though waiting is uncomfortable and painful, when your feelings take over and you’re drowning in the devil’s lies, you can cut through them with a small, “but God has a plan”. This turns the waiting room into just another room in your house.

As I’ve sat in this room, God has changed my heart towards waiting. I’ve realized God actually values waiting. God is not a rushed God. The song Seasons by Hillsong Worship says it beautifully, “For all I know of seasons is that You take Your time. You could have saved us in a second instead You sent a child”.

Before this song, I had never considered this. God the Almighty could have easily saved us in less than a second, but yet He chose a slow, meaningful way. Jesus literally came as a baby so God’s people had to wait 30 some years even after Jesus was sent to earth. God chose to send His son not only to demonstrate the extent of His love for us but also as an example to show us that He values waiting. God only values good things, so waiting must be a good thing.

When I fall victim to the lies in the waiting room, I find comfort in knowing that God still knows the desires of my heart. He doesn’t keep things from me “just because” or to be mean to me. He can never do anything “to be mean to us”, for God Himself is solely good. He keeps me waiting for my good. God is a good God and He has good plans for me. He has not overlooked me. When the devil is fighting super hard, know you are never alone while you wait, God is with you and I assure you there are other people looking for roommates through their waiting.

I’ve never come up with a reason why God is making me wait. And honestly, it doesn’t matter if I ever find a reason. What does matter is what I do while I sit here. Waiting is not a pause button. It is not a free pass out of doing Kingdom work. Even when you are waiting, you are still living. It is not the in between of before and after true living. Waiting is real life and you have to keep living to the best of your ability, even when you’re waiting.

The waiting room can be a beautiful place, if you let it. The sun seeps through the blinds in a unique way, you notice God differently in this place. Things may move slower, a pace where you are able to see God’s hand easier if you pay attention. Waiting can be a form of worship if we pray through the pain, listen for His gentle responses, and even praise God for what He is doing here.

Waiting is hard, it is not for the weak. You didn’t do anything “bad” to get sent to the waiting room, God is using you here. A friend once told me, “If you are married, you are supposed to be married in this moment. If you are single, you are supposed to be single in this moment.” And so I want to leave you with this, if you are in the waiting room, you’re supposed to be in the waiting room in this moment. Let God use you here even when it hurts, even when it’s uncomfortable. And when it’s hard, tell God it’s hard. Talk to Him through those feelings and when you feel alone and discouraged, come out to the living room and talk to your roommates.