Does anyone else feel like they are in a holding pattern?  I mean sure I get it, there will always be uncertainties in life.  I understand we have limited comprehension because we are human.  I get it already!  But, oh the waiting process can be so frustrating  leaving us feeling completely out of sorts if we allow ourselves to be swayed by our circumstance and not the promises of God. For example, the cooler weather was supposed to (in my mind) decrease my symptoms. Logically it makes sense since heat is my enemy.  But instead, I am daily waking up to a new version of myself.  It’s like I am married to someone with multiple personalities.  I don’t mean I wake up in a new mood each morning, but instead varying symptoms that have no rhyme or reason to them.

I thought I could handle this ridiculous roller coaster but I have found out, this has shaken me a bit.  I’m not surprised I am having a constant flare up.  I haven’t had a normal day in almost a year.  But the timing of the flare up triggered some raw emotions that I was not anticipating.  The uncertainty of every hour has worn me down over the past few weeks.  Maybe because I keep envisioning a relief of symptoms   in my immediate future while reality tells a different story.  I don’t write this to complain.  I write this to share my personal experience with waiting on something that has not yet come to fruition.

You see, waiting is actually an action.  It’s a conscious decision that we each make.  Waiting is not meant to be a place where we build a permanent shelter.  It’s a space where we are to have shelter, but not plant deep roots that will inhibit us from moving forward when the time is right.  Waiting takes patients.  It takes self control.  It takes an action of faith on our end believing our circumstances are not the determining factor of the outcome.  Beware of unintentional waiting.  The kind of waiting that is an excuse for lack of action.  It’s laziness, not waiting, that trips many of us up.  We want to say we are waiting for the next step to be revealed, but really we are quite content in our current circumstance.  It’s the road that lead to nowhere because it’s a circle.  We find ourselves going round and round but never really going anywhere.

My point is simple…are you prepared to move if He says move?  Are you actively waiting for His word to become a reality in your life?  This doesn’t mean that you have to wait anxiously worrying about every detail.  Christ can give us peace in the midst of our waiting.  He promises to walk with us every step of the way. When we are in a season of waiting so many things come to the surface.  Insecurities, doubts, fears, weaknesses, are just to name a few.  What if your season of waiting is preparing you for what is to come?  Don’t miss the lessons He teaches us in these uncertain seasons either by living in fear and anxiety or by lazily “waiting” for circumstances to change.  Sometimes we find it’s not the circumstance that changes, it is us that is changed.

If you have been laser focused on your limitations, stop right in your tracks! Focus on the promises He has made to you.  Focus on His faithfulness and grace.  We all have limitations that could easily keep us from believing His word to be true.  But our weakness, whether it be physical or mental, is no match for the impartation of strength He gifts each of us.

“My grace is enough; it’s all you need.  My strength comes into its own in your weakness.  Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen.  I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.  It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness.  Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size-abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.  I just let Christ take over!  And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”  II Corinthians 9-10

So, if you are like me and feel unusually weak at the moment, it’s ok…His strength comes into its own in our weakness.  No longer focus on the handicap you have, but rather appreciate the gift it brings into your life.  It gives you the opportunity to experience a strength that is humanly impossible.  It allows you to experience God in an intimate way like never before.  Our limitations that seem to drag us down can be the catalyst for the strength that we are about to encounter.  It’s hard to grasp the concept I know.  But the things that seem to be your greatest trials are the exact things that will empower you in Jesus Christ.  Wait with anticipation that His grace is enough!  It’s enough in your heartbreak, your pain, your family, your marriage, your relationships, your job, your health, your entire future!  Keep these words close to your heart.  “The weaker I get, the stronger I become because of Christ Jesus within me.”