Kara (from our Peru 2007 team) and I, sharing a moment of laughter at our book release party.

This walk of faith is significant and challenging. There are certainly times when it is eaier than others. When you are watching and waiting for a specific thing to happen, the journey can be so difficult to handle.

The Lord has promised He will never leave or forsake His own (Deut 31:6). We know that and cling to it. When the period of waiting is upon you, things intensify in ways they really shouldn't. If we really have faith, then we know we can leave things in His hands and if we are walking in obedience to Him, He will take of things.

Still, we want to help Him. We want results more quickly. We go through so many justification processes and truly try to speed things to a conclusion. The problem is, when we insert our own desires into the mix during a time of waiting and start to initiate action in order to get a desired outcome, we are no longer being faith-ful.

There is a time for action. Their is a time for waiting. Waiting should not become action unless we are prompted forward by God's Spirit. He does provide peace to us in the waiting, but so many of us have our mind filled with what people around us are saying. If what they say is congruent with our desires, there is a tendency to follow them because it seems more logical.

"Doing,' most always makes more sense than "waiting," to us.

There are times when we have certain things we have to "do" while we "wait." However, that is walking out obedience, and not trying to produce our own speedy outcome.

When God called me into ministry, I thought it would happen right away! Initially, I thought I would be plugged into whatever He wanted me to do, within weeks, or months...certainly not years.

When we read His Word, it most always was a process of years of preparation before anyone was plugged in. We focus easily on the calling of the disciples as evidence of immediate action. Yet, they had gone through years of preparation without realizing it. When called to action, they immediately dropped their nets, but then followed Christ for years before they were given much responsibility to actually minister.

We are not well equipped for 'waiting' it would seem. We like 'doing!'

God is leading me through a time of waiting right now that requires only the action of obedient walking. I have had a sense of peace, but my growing impatience threatens to have me taking things into my own hands. Some would argue that that would be the right move. I know it would not be, regardless of how easy it is to justify action.

When we wait, and let the Lord lead, it ultimately increases our faith. We see Him follow through as He said He would, and we know that we can and should trust the next time.

It's kind of like being in the hospital waiting room while a loved one is in surgery. When the time frame passes of the expected length of surgery, we stop being patient. We begin to pace. We check our watch. We go to the desk and ask questions. We get irritable. We express our displeasure to innocent by-standers. Our minds operate in hyper-active mode, entertaining all the negative possibilities of why the waiting is not over.

The doctor comes through the door and says everything is fine and went well! Our reaction?

"I knew it!" (and a huge sigh of relief)

Faith teaches us to allow the peace of Christ to reside closer to the surface than irritability and the need for taking over.

He is in control. He knows best. When the time comes, He will reveal His answers and we will walk in obedience.

My responsibility is to learn to live with His peace, and not my frustration. The former yields a fruitful life, the latter, a difficult one for anyone around you.

We have each already learned this lesson.

I just need to act like it.

dad