On the Road Again

Have you ever waited a long time for something? If so, then you know the anticipation, anxiety, and wonder that belong to a long wait.

For ten years prophets told my husband that God would give him full-time employment. He would become a company man. We would see increase. We would want for nothing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Vic worked union construction those ten years. It was a roller-coaster of a life. Just as we'd dig out of an unemployment hole, he would get laid off again (as the job came to an end - not because he didn't do his job well). We'd get right back into debt while we waited for the next call from the union hall.

I hated waiting.

Life was stressful, to say the least. We were getting used to being a step-family. Our finances were rarely stable. We bought our first house. And I stayed home with the kids, doing anything I could think of to make a little extra money for the family. {I wish I'd thought of writing back then.}

BUT GOD...

Had promised.

It was May 2008, Memorial Day Weekend. Thursday, to be exact. We had $400 in our bank account when Vic got antsy and decided to make some phone calls. I'll spare the details, but I'll tell you this: The call was nothing short of a miracle.

Vic had worked for this guy once, four or five years prior. He asked if the company had any local work. "No, but you're like an angel calling. I am in need of guys. Can you be in Alabama on Tuesday?"

We lived in Upstate NY. Alabama was 21 hours away by car. We had $400. And God saw us through.

I never wanted to raise our kids on my own, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I packed my husband's things and sent him on his way, praying for the day I'd be able to join him.

July 4th weekend the kids and I moved to be with him in Mobile, AL.

Jeff has a line in his book that says, "One evening, though, everything started to slow down."

When you're used to living the fast-paced life of a New Yorker and you pull into the South, you notice pretty quickly that everything (except the highway) slows down. It's culture shock but in an awesome way. I fell in love with the South and its slower pace of life.

I love that people take the time to enjoy their relationships. There's nothing like a cold glass of sweet tea on the back porch with a group of your friends. There's nothing like King's Cake and coffee over a game of Phase 10 with your buds. There's nothing like Southern Boil strewn across newspapers on the table and fellowship with the Pastor's family. And coming from New York, there's nothing like someone coming to a near stop to let you into the lane so you can turn off at the right moment. That rarely (never) happens in New York. It didn't take me long to figure out that these in-between times are what make life abundant. I loved slowing down.

God has blessed my husband and me with incredible careers. We love our work. He's currently a Construction Engineer, and I am a writer and an editor {and I'm not afraid to claim it}. Vic is a company man. We haven't wanted for anything in a long time. We've definitely seen increase.

But life on the road is full of in-betweens. When you move once every 6 - 18 months, you live in the in-between.

In between job sites.

In between packing.

In between road trips to move.

In between schools and teachers and friends.

In between cities and states.

And you learn yet again that it's there ... in the in-between ... that life happens. It's there that you grow. It's there that you become. It's there that you discover exactly who God has made you to be and what He has in store for you.

So what does one do in the in-between? I wrote a series of posts on that very thing even before I heard of Jeff's book:

A Gift in the Waiting ... Time
In the Midst of It {Praying Through the Wait}
In the Meantime ... What to Do While Waiting
Work the Wait

Join me again tomorrow to read my testimony of God's calling and what He's done as I have been obedient to follow His lead.

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.

Monday's Post: Get Me Out of Here!

Tuesday's Post: What Happened in the Waiting

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.

A Gift in the Waiting...Time

One thing about waiting that we can be certain of is that waiting takes time. Usually, that time is too long for our anxious hearts. However, God consistently speaks of the "appointed time" in life throughout the Bible.

I've posted about what to do while you're waiting and praying in the midst of the wait. Last night, I found myself tossing in my bed. Sometimes, God wakes me up with a word. This time, it was a reminder.

Time is a gift.

He whispered it real quiet-like. "When you receive a gift, you need to open it. Don't leave it sitting in a box on a shelf in your heart. Open it and use it."

How often do we hate the wait so much that we never do anything with it? How often do we sit and wait for what's next, instead of living in today?

There were ten virgins in Matthew 25. The Word says that five of them were wise and five were foolish. See, they were waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. Five of them had the sense to do something with their waiting time and gathered oil for their lamps. The five who were foolish didn't prepare. They came to the waiting place with no oil in their lamps. So when the time came for the groom to arrive, they weren't ready for Him. They begged the five wise ladies to spare some oil for them, but they knew how much they would need and could spare none. Five ladies met their bridegroom. Five did not. Because they weren't ready.

Time is a gift. We need to use it wisely. Tweet This

Rather than fretting over what's to come, we should be making preparations. We should be seeking the face of God in the now, not waiting to do so when He arrives and says, "It's time."

Why does God give us all of this time in waiting? Let's take a look at a few examples from the Word:

1. Time to Repent: "And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent" (Revelation 2:21). He gives us time to repent of our sins, so that we can be prepared for what's to come. I sometimes wonder if things I know my husband and I are called to do haven't come to pass yet, because we still need to get some things right in our own lives. Actually, I'm certain of it. We are in the midst of a season of repentance in preparation for what's to come. What do you need to repent of that could be holding you back from God's plan for you?

2. Time to Store Up: "Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life" (1 Timothy 6:18-20). The ten virgins needed to store up their oil. They needed to have time to be filled with the Holy Spirit and do what God had called them to do. Five of them were wise and stored up their good foundation in Jesus. They took the time to know their Lord and Savior. Five of them did not. Jesus' response to them was, "I never knew you." God has a plan and purpose for everyone who loves Him. Before we can come into His will, we need to be prepared, so we don't cause another to fall when we fail. There's no worse feeling than seeing another person fail because you weren't prepared. Trust me, I know. By getting ready, we will have success in Jesus Christ in whatever He calls us to do.

3. Time to Redeem the Time: "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15-16). God allows us time to "buy up, to ransom, to rescue from loss, to improve opportunity." These are the definitions of "redeeming" in the Strong's Concordance. God wants to allow us time to improve our opportunity in these evil days. He wants us to become men and women of integrity who can share His love and His Word with those who don't know Him. He wants us to rescue time from loss. Be wise in the waiting. Don't fall asleep as the disciples did. Join Jesus in His will. Pray. Seek God's face. Do good works.

4. Time to Understand What the Lord Wills: "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Ephesians 5:17). The disciples didn't understand why Jesus became so frustrated with them in the Garden of Gethsemane. He told them to watch and pray. After He'd prayed for a time, He returned to find them sleeping. He tells them to watch and pray again, and this time He reveals the purpose of His will for them to do so. "...lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). When we refuse to take the time to pray and watch in the waiting, we open ourselves up to an attack from the enemy. We can say we love Jesus and wish to do His will, but our flesh tends to be weaker than our spirit. We succumb too easily to heavy eyelids and deaf ears and heavy hearts. Understand what God wills for you. Watch. Pray. And quit sleeping every time you go to church or open the Bible. "...the hour is at hand" (Matthew 26:45).

5. Time to Realize Life is Short: I am most guilty of this one. "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that'" (James 4:13-15). Not knowing where we will be sent next always leaves me wondering which city we'll be heading for and how long we'll be there. I spend a couple of hours a week, for about a month or two before the company tells us where we'll be going, looking at Google Maps and searching local schools and crime charts, trying to plan for what's to come--when I don't even know where we're going. Sad, right? I waste so much time, rather than taking care of today's cares. Life is short. We need to live in the here and the now, not the past (redeem that time) or the future (it could vanish tomorrow).

God's gift of time is precious. It's the oil in our lamps. It's the hour to tarry with Him. It's the opportunity to know Jesus and to prepare for God's opportunities in our lives. Don't waste it while you're waiting.