Lessons from the Middle of Nowhere
A couple weekends ago, I attended a women’s conference hosted by my church. I don’t usually sign up for these kind of events, even though I’ve had lots of opportunities to go to them. Apparently, God knew I needed to this time. And He got me to go by putting a speaker on the schedule that I didn’t want to miss.
Did that speaker end up coming? No. Was the weekend still exactly what I needed? Yes.
The first event was dinner on Friday night. Afterwards, we walked over to the Worship Center. Some books written by the speaker were setting on a table in the lobby with the middle one titled, “Love Me in the Waiting”. My interest was piqued. I wasn’t quite over my disappointment from not getting to hear who I wanted, but my heart was starting to open.
After the worship music, when the speaker walked onto stage, she introduced her topic for the weekend sessions:
Proceeding in the waiting. How to keep going.
I could feel the tears coming up inside. If I had known the logistics of where I was going to be this weekend, without knowing what the topic was, I wouldn’t have come. I don’t do in-the-middle-of-nowhere kind of places, especially overnight. I’ve done that before and I’m good. Give me amenities and a store where I can buy anything I forgot to bring. A clean and modern bathroom. A king bed with a large TV where I can fall asleep to Gilmore Girls. Give me that and then God can speak to me. But no…that’s not how this weekend worked. We didn’t even have cell service. No TV in the room. Leaving conversation and quiet as the only things to do. And isn’t that just like God. Stripping away all of the unnecessary.
The Lessons
Throughout the weekend, I saw little ways that God showed up for me, proving that He truly knows me and sees me. I also saw more obvious ways, such as what was talked about in the sessions.
I want to share with you what I learned about waiting, from Krystal Ribble, our speaker:
Waiting is a time of preparation. We may not have that one thing that we want, but while we wait for that, we can prepare. I want to be ready when God is.
As we’re preparing, we’re being protected and preserved for whatever is next. I get to trust that God sees what I can’t and knows that the best thing for me right now is waiting, not having.
God is peace for me in the waiting. He has everything under control. He’s protecting me, and I am safe with Him.
It’s okay to hope for something, even though God may not ever bring it to reality. He actually wants us to hope. (Jer. 29:11, Rom. 5:5) Sometimes, I think that I shouldn’t hope for something because I don’t know if God will do it. Having false hope really hurts. Being disappointed really hurts. However, if that’s my basis for having hope, then hope doesn’t exist because I don’t know the future.
That’s it. That’s what I learned. And I honestly don’t have anything to add to that for you. Except to say that I hope it helps you in your own season of waiting.