I have a lot of memories from the waiting rooms of hospitals. As a Pastor, I waited with many people there while their loved one was in surgery.

Recently the tables were turned and I was the one in the waiting room. Our children were busy that day and so I sat alone in the waiting room with my thoughts. “Nancy would be fine.” “There would be no complications.” “God, you know I could never live the rest of my life without her.”

Much of our lives are spent in the “waiting room”.  God is funny that way. He rarely gives us what we want when we want it. I guess He’s more concerned about our character than our comfort. If our prayers were instantly answered, we really wouldn’t need God at all. Our own wishes would reign supreme and our own egos would be seated squarely on the throne.

As I look back, the most important doors that God eventually opened for me were opened after extended periods of waiting. God was totally silent. He did nothing. As a young man, I spent four years waiting for a door to open in ministry. Six years of waiting for a child. Two years of waiting to plant a new church. And now, more waiting.

I had spent only a few minutes in the waiting room when the receptionist asked me to move to another room where the doctor would be in to talk with me. I knew that something terrible had happened. There was no way the procedure could be finished so quickly. “No God!” “I can’t live without her!”

The Dr. sat down across from me. “Mr. Hodge, everything went fine. She’s in recovery and the nurse will call you when you can go in.” I smile as I type this.

Waiting. I still hate it. I feel so insecure when life doesn’t go as I had hoped it would. I question God. I wonder if He even exists and if He does, why isn’t He making things happen for me.  I wish I was better at taking the advice from Proverbs 3:5-6 of The Message:

Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.

As founding Pastor of The Bridge Community Church and Executive Director of Mo Hodge Ministries, Mo resources Pastors and Leaders in the area of leadership development. He enables Pastors and leaders in the following areas: Developing Teams, Church Growth, Church Planting, Discipleship Multiplication, Nonprofit Organizational Management, Multi-site Church Development, Public Speaking, Capital Campaigns, and Sr. Pastor Succession. … Mo and his wife, Nancy, live in Anderson, IN with their children and grandchildren. Though retired, Mo is still active in ministry, preaching, teaching, and planting new churches wherever the Lord leads. 

Image by Franz Bachinger from Pixabay