I stood in the middle of the elementary school gym. Students lined up on either side of a tug-of-war rope waiting for me. I quickly grabbed the rope positioning myself at the end.

A whistle blew and I jerked back to reality. The rope almost slipped from my hands as the pulling began. The motion of pulling and pushing as I tried to anchor myself for the team brings to mind my current season.

This memory of tug-of-war draws me into the present and my summer of waiting. Without a doubt, God’s sacred tension leaves me unsettled some days.

The Connection of Past and Present

You may ask yourself, “How does one simple game of tug-of-war lead me to the sacred tension of waiting?” I am asking myself, too.

Please stick with me.

God has walked with me through seasons of waiting before. But the common thread in every waiting time is the tension of pushing and pulling.

God pulls me closer but I push back with everything I’ve got. Just like in a tug-of-war game, the team pulling wants to cross the middle line and claim victory.

I push and pull away from God as I struggle to maintain control of every detail in the waiting. If I release the power to God at the beginning of any cycle of waiting it often looks like a tug-of-war game with God. My victory looks like claiming the control that deep inside I know I should offer to God.

My past frequently intersects with my future. It’s a steady back-and-forth that may look like this:

My belief in ordinary seasons of life turns into unbelief.

Attempts of surrender become a desperate battle to hold on.

Not knowing the outcome of the journey, but trusting that God knows is faith

A desire for answers that turn into more questions is part of the journey

Each intersection with God during the experience either draws me closer to Him or keeps me standing in place.

How Can the Sacred Tension of Waiting Lead Us Closer to God?

I ask myself during these periods of unrest if I am good at waiting. I find myself back at square one more time than not. Most of you know I even wrote a book about living in the wilderness and waiting well in those seasons of life. You would think I would have it together by now.

How do we move forward when we feel stuck? Is God even with us when we feel alone in the waiting?

What if we start a waiting season knowing this season is the start of our walk toward abundance? God provides an open invitation to spend time with Him in the waiting space. He is right there waiting for us to say “yes”.

You may know this phrase “Perspective is everything.” What frame of mind are you clinging to when you are in a holding pattern? Knowing God wants to walk with you in any season is a comfort. Pushing away from the One who wants nothing more than to help you impacts the relationship God desires to have with you.

Waiting, not knowing, and holding uncertainty with hope, creates a tension that is always better when we invite God into the same space. The Sacred Tension of Waiting Share on X

Let’s remember that we reach Canaan only through the wilderness–the Promised Land …

the hope of God,

the joy of a life with God,

and the blessing of salvation that is found on the other side of waiting.

Let’s embrace the sacred tension of waiting and let God lead us to a life of abundance in Him.

Equipping and empowering women one heart at a time!

Photo by Anna Samoylova on Unsplash

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