52 Dozen, Weeks 11-16 : Waiting is Work

52 Dozen. Weeks 11-16.

I know I haven’t written in a while but I actually have been baking cookies and giving them out…just not writing about it. I skipped two weeks because of sickness and in the case of germs sharing is NOT caring. I did buy some yummy cookies and share them with co-workers during that time. We’ve sort of been in this period of waiting. Waiting to make some decisions about several areas of our life. We are still waiting. I have dreaded the questions “So what’s going on with ____?” We have several blanks in our life right now and my only answer is “we’re just waiting.” It’s so unsatisfying and unsettling. It feels so indecisive and wavering. I made a very intentional decision a few weeks ago that I would wait until a statement I heard and knew to be wise was true:

Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it?

No one said this to me intentionally concerning my current life circumstances but I heard it. I heard it over and over again in my head when someone would ask me a question about one of the blanks in my life and I wanted to give them an answer. I REALLY wanted to have an answer for myself.

I don’t. And the answer to the above statement was “I don’t know”…I talk about it an awful lot but I also pray about it an awful lot. As that statement rolled around in my head on a drive to work after dropping off my son at daycare (which means it was quiet) I heard someone on the radio talk about waiting on the Lord and even though my drive is only 3 minutes long I caught this speaker saying how often we dismiss waiting on the Lord as if it is some passive deed that we do when we are lacking action of some kind when in fact waiting on the Lord is one of the most key actions we can ever do in our Christian walk.

I guess in my mind I think of all the other circumstances in life where we are waiting…waiting for the light to turn green so we can get to where we are going on time…waiting for a waitress to come take our order…waiting to be called back to see the doctor. There are so many times we must wait and so few of those seem very productive at all. In fact in many circumstances it seems that we are simply hurrying up TO wait AGAIN. You get thru one light and then you have another. You give the waitress your order and you have to wait for your food. You get called back to see the doctor and you instead see a nurse first who takes you to a room to wait…again. But waiting on the Lord in different in one key feature. Hope. When we are waiting on the Lord we are also hoping on the Lord. We are resting our HOPE in Him because the end of that waiting period may be something much different than we expected. When we wait on the light to change we place a lot of hope in those that installed that light that it was done properly and it will eventually turn green and we will get to keep driving to our destination. While at a restaurant we place a lot of hope in the service of the restaurant that the waitress will come and take the order and eventually food will come out. While at the doctor’s office we place a lot of hope in the nurse to take our vitals correctly and then the doctor for diagnosing us appropriately and then we hope the medicine we are given works. When waiting on the Lord there is nowhere else to place your hope but in God as the provider of the answer you’re seeking.

I’ve said before how my isolation has been a gift in this season. My tendency before being a mom was to hang out with my friends, ask my friends for advice, give them a lot of details about my life and what I’m up against but in this new season of very little friendship I’m finding a lot of comfort in knowing that when I hear something from God, it is truly from Him. I believe God can use other people to speak to us but a friend’s advice can sometimes be confused with what God may be asking you to do. I have two wise women I seek council from and both are pretty removed from my everyday life so I know when they have something for me, it’s not just good advice, it’s God using them to tell me something. One of them has me on a text chain that sends me verses everyday and encouragement. The text a few days ago was:

“Patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us. Romans 5:4-5 God is often more patient with us than we are with ourselves, God began doing a good work in you and I am sure He will continue until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”

It is in this text even just a few days ago that I was again confirmed in my waiting.

Isn’t it funny how music and movies can affect us and make themselves a home in our memory? All this waiting and the movie quote that came to mind was from Rose in Titanic (1997) speaking about the time after the Titanic sunk:

“Afterwards the 700 people in the boats had nothing to do but wait. Wait to die, wait to live, wait for an absolution that would never come.”

I know the absolution for my waiting. I have a hope that rests on an unchanging, dependable, sovereign God who has a plan for me and He is sure to complete it.

I just have to wait and listen.

My reasoning for skipping out on the last few blog posts? I have been spending my bake time praying for each recipient of cookies…but I’ve been spending the time I normally spent on blogging on the very active endeavor of WAITING.

I love this verse because its implication is that WAITING takes courage. And I’m finding that yes, it takes courage to reject your own ideas and plans for your life and wait to see what God may have even if it is much different than you planned.

Psalm 27:!4 Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

Week 11: Cookies to some volunteers who have been oh-so faithful.

·      Lemon Cool Whip Cookies

Week 12: Cookies for Pastor’s Wife Appreciation given to the wives of several local pastors.

·      Strawberry cake mix cookies with dark chocolate chips

Week 13-14: Shared some store bought cookies

Week 15: Cookies to a dear sweet friend who is a ‘new’ friend whom I admire.

·      Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese’s Pieces

Week 16: Cookies to another ‘new’ friend who has taken special time to reach out to me on several occasions.

·      Cake Batter Cookie Bars with sprinkles and chocolate chips

I'll plug back in to post the recipes in a bit, all were very basic recipes from Pinterest.