What Happened in The Waiting

I wish I could tell you that I quit college, went home, and life became all I dreamed it would be.

But life doesn't always work out that way.

And usually it's our own unwise choices or the unwise choices of those we love that become the cause of our discontentment.

I only stayed a few months before I hit the road again ... with a guy.

After living approximately six months away from home with this person, I discovered that being verbally and physically abused would become a lifestyle for me if I stayed with my decision to make it on my own.

Apart from God.

Until I got a wake-up call from the Man Himself.

When God calls you out of your sinful place, you listen. Because if you don't, your life will be like that chaff that burns quickly. I had a choice to make. Go home with my tail between my legs in shame, or face the possibility of spending eternity in hell - on earth and in the beyond.

I could really go HOME and one day enjoy a mansion in heaven, or I could never see home again.

Home is the place where we sometimes hurt the ones we love, but the back door is always open - and there is always a seat at the table.

- Jeff Goins, The In-Between

Thankfully, my parents promised I could come home, so long as I was willing to live under their authority in their house.

Only a fool would refuse a seat at the table. Because that's where God prepares a place for us. And when we rest in His place for us, goodness and mercy surely follow us all the days of our lives.

This is what happened in the In-Between:

I waited for love ... and found the love of a Savior. I discovered that God loves me as the person He created me to be. It no longer mattered what the kids in fourth grade thought of me. It no longer mattered whether or not my crush loved me in return. Because in the waiting, Jesus became my first love.

I waited 4 years for marriage ... and the man of my dreams and a new son. The first five years of our marriage were incredibly tough, but we discovered that in the darkest places we found the deepest intimacy. And I learned all the more that no matter what my husband thought, God saw and heard everything that went on in our step-family when no one else was watching.

I waited another year to have my own kids ... and have been blessed with four incredibly different children. I've learned to enjoy the waiting as they grow and mature. This journey in life goes faster than the blink of an eye, even when it seems to be dragging a one-ton weight. I know. My step-son is now 23. He was 4 when I met his father. My oldest is almost 14. The youngest is nearly 9. Enjoy the process of who they are becoming. Now's the time to savor the moments and take the time to teach them all you know. Tomorrow they'll be on their own journey, facing their own in-betweens.

My husband and I waited 10 years for the prophetic promise from God to come to pass ... and today we are gratefully advancing in each of our careers, watching God do amazing things in the in-between moments. God promised my husband would become a company man - while he was working union, being shifted from company to company as he went from job site to job site. But God knew what He was doing. And we had no idea what enduring the in-between had in store ...

Join me tomorrow to find out what the in-between did have in store.

This week, I will be preparing for another journey ... to a new season of life for our family. A new in-between. A new season of waiting and discovering and savoring the ordinary moments in life that lead to the extraordinary events of life. I will leave a post each day, Monday through Friday, for you to enjoy and think upon as I prepare for and make my trip. These posts will lead up to where I find myself today, and I hope that they encourage you to enjoy the wait.

Read yesterday's post here: http://alyciawmorales.blogspot.com/2013/08/get-me-out-of-here.html

For more info about Jeff's book, please visit: http://goinswriter.com/ Jeff has some great giveaways for ordering The In-Between: Embracing the Tension Between Now and the Next Big Thing. You won't want to miss out! (He's also written several posts to give you a taste of the material in his book and what others are saying about it.)

On Saturday, enjoy my review of The In-Between.