I guess if the only criteria for getting into heaven were waiting on God, I may be lacking. Like most people in today’s world, I like to get what I want quickly. We are in an Amazon world…order today and get tomorrow. But God does not work that way.
My first experience in waiting for God was my leukemia journey. My local doctor told me, “Jeri Lynn, this will be a marathon, not a sprint,” and he was not kidding! After two years of daily chemo (three bags a day for months on end), two years of steroids, a transplant, and waiting for five years to hear the word “remission,” the waiting was hard. But I am still waiting for the doctors to say “healed.”
My second experience is a result of long-term steroid use. I took high-dose steroids for two years due to transplant rejection. The result is necrosis (bone death) in my legs. I need two large surgeries, but God tells me to “wait,” so I wait. Is it easy? No! I have no idea why I am supposed to wait, but I am. So I have dull leg pain on a regular basis that may become acute someday. But God says wait for now.
My third experience is my recent diagnosis of CKD (chronic kidney disease). Waiting on my kidneys to “prayerfully” repair through medications and dietary changes is excruciatingly hard. I am two months into the new medications, exercise regimens, and eating healing foods, and it is hard. But I have to wait for results. My kidneys will repair; God has given me this word, but the waiting is really hard.
I am reminded of Joseph in Genesis. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, and he did not deserve that. But Joseph waited and stayed loyal to God, finding favor in God’s eyes, and therefore became Potiphar’s assistant in Pharaoh’s court. Then Joseph was accused of trying to seduce Potiphar’s wife (in which he was innocent), and he was thrown into jail. Joseph waited and stayed loyal to God while in prison and found favor with the jail’s warden. Next, Joseph interpreted two dreams while in jail, and two years later, he was released to Pharaoh’s court and became second-in-command in Egypt. All because he trusted in God and waited on God to move in his life.
I want God to move instantly, but God does not work that way most of the time. Joseph waited many, many years for God to move, and he never stopped having faith. Waiting on God to move is well worth it because the reward will be great! Are you waiting on something in your life and IT SEEMS God is not answering you? God always answers, so keep waiting and trusting WITH ME. God hears and will bless our faithfulness!
Psalm 27:14:
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
(LAB)
Prayerfully,
Jeri Lynn Daniel, your sister in Christ
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#jerilynndanielblogs