Joy in the Waiting

Wait....

It is the theme of our lives around here right now.  I feel a sense of anticipation and even excitement.  However, it is mingled with a deep and profound sense of sadness and loss.  Couple that with growing anxiety about spending weeks apart from my husband; solo parenting, something I have done once upon a time and NEVER wanted to do again.

All those feelings merge in a weird and powerful emotion that can be described in one word - wait.

"Even youths shall faint and be weary,
   and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
   they shall walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:30-31

I am not a youth anymore, therefore I am most definitely prone to grow faint and weary.  I am clinging to the latter part of this verse though and praying believing that God Himself will renew my strength.  He will give me rest when I need it, encouragement when I think I can't go on - and in Him I can do all things!  Even survive the next few months of re-locating our family across the country.

I am also going a step further and believing that I am going to find joy in the waiting.  Joy, a deep sense of contentment and peace - even in the midst of the storm.  I am going to smile at my children every day, hug them, pray for them, and serve them -- even when I don't feel like it.

And in a few months, when I wake up a resident in a state I have only briefly visited and know absolutely nothing about - I will still have that joy within me.  I know this because joy doesn't come from your circumstances - it comes from your Creator.  True joy is only found in Jesus Christ and no matter where we live or what we do - He is there.  Because He is, there is joy.  Because He is there - I have peace about going there, too.

Along the same lines of joy in the waiting, could you please pray for the Saunders family? This is one of my new favorite blogs (I've noticed God is leading me to bloggers on the West Coast lately...not a coincidence, I'm sure).  Linny is currently in Uganda, loving on their daughter Ruby.  Ruby is in desperate need of medical attention, so could you please pray that God would move the mountains that are blocking them from bringing her home?  The enemy hates adoption, and he works overtime to try to keep children who are already chosen and loved by their forever families stuck in their current conditions.  Wow - what a story Ruby will have when she gets home to her family!!

"Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts."  Jeremiah 15:16