The Cross of Waiting

“It’s the waiting, the not knowing, that’s driving me crazy.”

“The waiting is the cross,” [Mother] answered.” Colleen Carroll Campbell from My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir~

Sometimes it feels like we’ve been waiting for something all our lives. I remember as a teen waiting for my father to pick me up from school and wondering how many hours I’d spent waiting for him in my life. But he always came. I always knew he would, and he did.

Having to wait through the unknown is its own cross–sometimes the heaviest. The test or surgery results, the diagnosis. We dwell on the outcome. The thing that will determine how the rest of our lives plays out.

Colleen Carroll Campbell waited for God to send her a child. She endured the agony of the wait, medical treatments and the monthly realization of yet another failure to conceive.

What weighed most heavily on her was not knowing whether she would ever be a mother.

She and her husband asked God again and again to send them a baby. Yet years of striving and never achieving had convinced her that her dream would never materialize. And in one way it never did. (Spoiler ahead!)

(Spoiler ahead!)

He didn’t send them a baby. He sent them two.

But they had to wait. And in the time of waiting, they grew closer to God and closer to each other.

God says, rest. Wait. Trust me.

We sense we are standing still in that time. But we are not. And God is not still either. He works through our times of waiting. He works in us. 

Rest. Wait. Trust. And watch for the outcome. 

It will be worth the wait.

Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NASB~

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20 Replies to “The Cross of Waiting”

  1. Amen and amen. The waiting is sometimes the hardest part. I think it might be better if we knew the results but told the event would not happen for several more years. But we learn to trust God in the wait.

  2. thank you for writing this. very timely for me. A different situation. But your writing helps all kinds of waits. ugh, long sigh. Actually, I am feeling better. The wait goes on. Great advice… “Rest. Wait. Trust. And watch for the outcome” Love the ps reminder too quote ” Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14 NASB~” I need double doses at times blessings Peace

  3. This is such an important message: “God is not still either. He works through our times of waiting. He works in us.” What seems like waiting to us is a productive time for God. I guess, because some of the fruit is not necessarily tangible, it’s not as tasty for us. Thank you for this reminder that God has a reason for the waiting.

  4. Rest. Wait. Trust. And wait for the outcome. Wise words. I wish they were easy, but really, of all the easy stuff on Earth, what is worth it in the end? It’s the hard stuff that’s the best. The juice is worth the squeeze.

  5. Waiting is so tough sometimes, especially in the midst of stress, headaches, and tears. Yet, God is always there guiding sometimes and carrying others.

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