A Prayer for the Waiting
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1 Peter 1:3-6
It’s so hard to wait isn’t it? Whether it’s for summer to start, for the semester to end, for the love you’ve been waiting for to show up, or for Jesus to heal your heart, we find ourselves in so many seasons of waiting. And instead of being thankful for exactly what I’ve been given today, I find myself grumbling and dreaming of later.
But my hope for today is this: that instead of despising the waiting, we could learn to trust. Below is a prayer that I wrote a few years ago that I just recently found again.
Waiting for what we’re hoping for or dreaming about is never really easy, but oh my friends, how glorious it is to trust Jesus! There’s so much growth that is ahead for you. The waiting refines you. Hold fast. There is hope for you today.
“So, Jesus, you know I’m not good at waiting. You know I’m still scared to relinquish control. But you blow me away with your endless compassion. You love me again and again and you are STILL good to me even after all the times I have said no; even after all the things I’ve done, you still would climb right back on the cross and bear all the pain again just so that I could become more free.
And because of that, I will again and again let go. I will again and again say that you are good and you know what you’re doing. Even when I’m afraid I will let go and lay everything down. And when I can’t muster up the courage to let go, I will have compassion on myself because you have compassion on me.
Because of what you have done for me I will wait and I will trust you. I trust that you have good plans for my life, even when I can’t see what you’re doing. I trust that you are not a man that you would lie to me, that your promises are good and true.
I trust that you love me and want to partner with me to do a good work in my life. So Jesus, in these seasons of waiting for your promises, please teach me to lean on you. To look for you. To seek and knock. Refine me in these waiting seasons. Let there be joy in the waiting. And let there just be more and more of you, Jesus. You are good to me all the days of my life and I love you.”
What kind of prayer do you want to pray about the kind of waiting season you are in (if you’re in one)? Be honest with God. Pour out your heart to him.