Are We There Yet?

 My Dearest Sister,

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​Do you remember those long, family road trips as a kid to some exciting destination? You know, the ones where ten minutes seemed like an eternity because you couldn’t wait to get to the beach, or grandma’s, or wherever it was your parents were taking you? You must have asked the phrase “Are we there yet?” about a dozen times, always with the same response of  “Nope, not yet.” It seemed as if you would never arrive, but would be stuck in the car, just waiting forever. Sometimes, that’s what life feels like to me, except now God is in the driver’s seat, not my mom or dad. And even though I’ve matured quite a bit since I was eight, I still have that same attitude of impatience. I have this place in mind where I want to be and I want to be there NOW. I don’t want to wait for God to take the detours to avoid the wreckage on the highway or slow down because it’s raining outside. All I can think about is the destination so getting there in one piece is the last thing on my mind. You know, even as a society we lack patience. It seems as if everything today is available quickly, from fast food to on-demand television, instant download music to same-day shipping. We don’t like to wait for anything, do we? So when the topic of waiting on the Lord comes up, it’s no wonder that our response is similar to that of an eight-year-old on a never ending road trip: “Lord, are we there yet?!”

​Whether it’s a job we want, prosperity we’re seeking in a relationship, or even something we desire to happen in someone else’s life, God doesn’t always answer our requests right away. Sometimes, He asks us to wait patiently for Him to do His perfect work. As I’m sure you already know, having patience in God’s timing is not always a simple task. When there is suffering and heartache at hand and we can imagine a way of peace and prosperity that seems much more fitting, it’s not always easy to understand why God works in the way He does. While the Lord’s plan doesn’t always happen as speedily as we would like, we do have the assurance that His timing is better than ours. Ecclesiates 3:11 speaks about this: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.” The simple truth about God’s timing is that we will never understand it. Even though He has given us a piece of eternity through salvation, my sister, we cannot comprehend His full plan. It is too great and too perfect for our mortal minds to even begin to understand. We do, however, have the hope that His timing makes all things more beautiful than we can ever imagine, even if we don’t see it upon first glance.

​Going back to those road trips as a kid, did you ever just have the urge to climb in the driver’s seat and take the wheel from your mom or dad because you thought you could do a better job of navigating? Of course not! You were just a kid. You didn’t know how to operate a vehicle and even if you did, you didn’t know which roads to take to get where you were going. What’s more, your feet probably wouldn’t even have reached the pedals. So why do we as Christians get so eager sometimes to take the wheel of our life from God? We don’t always know which roads we’re supposed to take. Most of the time we don’t even know the destination; but we still put God in the passenger seat, look over with a smile and say “I’ve got this, Lord. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” And then we strap a couple of blocks of wood to our feet, pull out a phone book to sit on, and it’s full speed ahead! Though it’s silly to think of that happening, it’s true. We all have periods in our lives like that. If you’re anything like me, it’s difficult to sit back and relax when we don’t even know where the destination is. We start to worry about the outcome and then the desire to take the wheel from God and find our own way starts to eat away at us.

​To learn patience in waiting on the Lord, my dear sister, we must first learn to trust Him completely with our future. Psalm 27:13-14 exhorts us to do this: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” We must remember, dear sister, that the Lord is good! He has our very best in mind and will never fail us in that pursuit. And although God’s timing isn’t always as quick as we desire, He knows exactly when we are ready for Him to move in our lives and exactly when we need to be patient and wait. Maybe you have had a certain concern on your heart that you have been praying about for a very long time and you just want to sigh and say “Lord, are we there yet?”. I urge you, dear sister, not to lose heart, but to remember the promises of our Lord; He makes all things beautiful in their own time. Unlike us, He already knows the destination and the way to get there. We just need to trust that His goodness will see us through to the end. While our own earthly parents may have taken a wrong turn on some of those road trips, God never steers us in the wrong direction. Have faith my beloved sister, and wait, I say, on the Lord!

​Your Sister in Christ,

​Lauren