waiting

Not wasting my waiting

April 4, 2019 Kelley Hunt2 Comments

‘But those who wait on 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 40.31.

I feel like I have been doing waiting all wrong.

And I have done a lot of waiting. I’ve waited for many answers to prayers, long after I expected them to be answered. I’ve waited for God’s direction and for His solutions to problems. I’ve also waited, through tears, for spiritual understanding after confusing disappointments.

And my waiting has not looked remotely like Isaiah’s description.

Far from renewed strength, waiting has often felt like the life was draining from me. Rather than running, I barely crawled. At times I was in danger of completely losing hope. Instead of eagle-soaring, I curled up on the sofa with a bowl of ice-cream and a box set.

Because waiting is really hard. The most difficult times in my life have been lived in the space between the promises and the provisions of the Lord. Those times can feel hard and long and really desperate.

And yet James 1.2-4 says, ‘My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.’

There is a better kind of waiting than the one I have experienced. There is useful patience in trials. There is a way to wait that reaps spiritual benefits.

So, how can I wait well?

I can make Jesus my focus. Isaiah is describing those who wait ‘on the Lord‘. Sometimes I am so fixated on circumstances they are all I think about. They become my first thought in the morning and my last thought at night. This is not good for me. And it will never produce faith or hope.

Turning my attention towards God’s truth and His faithfulness helps me to rest while I wait. This rest is a source of renewed strength and without it, I will wear out. Focusing on the goodness of God and His faithfulness to me makes my spirit strong and helps me to handle discouragement and doubt. By starting the day with worship, whether I feel like it or not, I am choosing to focus on God, not the situations I cannot control. By filling my thoughts with God’s word throughout the day I am choosing what He says over what my circumstances are telling me.

I can also saturate my waiting with gratefulness. Otherwise, I will become discontent. Praying for something that I desperately need from God without thanking Him for what He has already done is dangerous for my soul. It causes me to lose perspective and turns my waiting into whining. Gratefulness is a simple habit to learn. But don’t underestimate it, it is a powerful weapon and it will kill self-pity with one blow.

And finally, I can be expectant of blessings while I wait. Look at those verses in James again. There is a promise that patience during times of difficulty brings complete provision of everything that we need! Read those words and believe they are true. Then expect abundant provision to be produced when you wait with faith and hope.

When we find ourselves in a painful season of waiting, we can decide to view it as a conduit of blessing. We can expect to receive something that we are lacking. It is a promise from God. Times of waiting, however grueling they feel, are opportunities for supernatural provision. God uses trials to heal us, mature us, make us more like Jesus and to prepare us for whatever is next.

There a spiritual sweet spot in the gap between what I am believing for and what I have received. It is the spot where Christian maturity is produced and my readiness to receive blessing is expedited. If I don’t resist or resent these seasons, they won’t be wasted.

And I really don’t want to waste my waiting. It is already painful enough. On this grey Thursday, while I am waiting for God to answer, I want to squeeze out every drop of goodness. I want to look to Him, worship Him, thank him and expect Him to provide everything that I need.

I want to never waste an ounce of waiting and then by God’s grace, I will be ready for the answer when it comes.

January thoughts

January 2, 2019January 2, 2019 Kelley HuntLeave a comment

In England, January can be pretty dreary. These weeks, after the Christmas lights are boxed away, often feel particularly bare and bleak as festive jolliness is replaced with disappointing bank balances and diet programs.

And yet, I have always liked January. Maybe I am strange but I just love all the potential and possibilities that come with the start of a new year. I also really love the quietness that January brings. We don’t have any family birthdays or anniversaries until February and our usual church and social commitments are often pared down as everybody recovers and regroups after the craziness of Christmas. So, I am usually able to keep the first few weeks of the year slow and uncommitted and to set it aside for thinking, planning and prayer. I love it.

Seasons are good and January can offer us a unique perspective. It can be a time when life, like a deciduous tree, is stripped down to just the skeleton of trunk and branches. No tinsel or glitter, just the reality of who were are and what our life really consists of.

And, this can be good. It allows us to see exactly what we’ve got.

Outside my back door are the glazed pots that were overflowing with flowers as recently as October when family played in my garden and wedding rehearsal dinner drinks were shared with bride and groom-to-be. Some of those pots are now completely empty, the bedding plants have served their short-term purpose of cheap summer colour for my patio. Others look dead but they are secretly hiding the roots of perennial life. And, so although the pot looks empty, I know it will spring into life when the days get warm again.

And then there are my reliable evergreen shrubs. They aren’t dazzling, but they keep my winter garden from being completely barren. This the time of year I appreciate their faithful presence most when there are no flashy blooms for them to compete with.

Life is a lot like my winter garden and at this time of year, with pared-back schedules and quiet calendars, we can really assess and take stock of what we’ve got growing and what will need attention.

When I think of the evergreens in my garden, I think of the faithful presence in my life of a few people I can utterly rely on. Along with my faith in God, these relationships form a support system that is irreplaceable in my life. These precious ones don’t just say they will pray, they pray. They get a word from God for me if I need one. They encourage, love and speak life to me when I am ready to give up, which is more often then I would like to admit. When circumstances are crushingly disappointing and grief overwhelms me, their number is the one I call. I simply could not do life without them.

This January, with its fresh diary pages still empty, is the perfect time to make these relationships a top priority, not an afterthought. Let’s remind ourselves before all the shiny new experiences and opportunities arrive, that life’s most precious gifts are dependable, loving friends and family and let’s decide to give them the time and appreciation they deserve. Remember, our closest relationships still need the oxygen of love and appreciation to thrive so let’s give the best of ourselves, not just leftovers, to those who mean the most to us.

And then there are those hidden perennials, the things in your life that have been beautiful and fruitful but lie dormant now.

Perhaps there are areas of gifting or ministry where God used you but have now dried up. Or maybe there are areas of victory that have succumbed again to the enemy. Have you lost ground? Have you seen a work of God seemingly die and you are left bewildered and bereft? Winter is a time for exercising faith. It is time to believe again that what God has started, He will finish. It is time to pray again over those fallow places and to expect green shoots. It is a time to believe in God’s ability and desire to do what He has said He will do.

Winter is not for the fainthearted gardener. When the ground is hard and cold and the colour has been sucked out of the garden, only those who understand how God works will keep their spirits up. Only children of the King keep singing songs of deliverance when circumstances look lifeless.

But, we can use these short, grey days to revisit God’s promises. We can remember words and verses that we have received and decide to believe again. We can ask the Holy Spirit to stir up faith and hope and to restore our confident belief in a powerful God.

And then there are the dead, empty pots that were bursting with summer bedding only months ago.

These are the seasons of life and ministry that have finished. It can be very painful to let these go. Grown-up children and the looming empty nest is the vacant pot I am staring into and it is very hard. I have overwhelmingly enjoyed raising a family and it has been my identity for 26 years. An end to a good season can feel like grief. It is painful and sad.

So, what can January offer these empty spaces in our lives where something good used to grow?

We are offered a chance to, with God’s grace, let them go. We can choose acceptance and supernatural joy that surpasses all understanding. We can pray over the newly vacant areas of our lives and dedicate them to the one who specializes in empty vessels. He promises to fill and multiply and satisfy. We can trust in His goodness to us and then we can dare to make space for something new. We can start the new year with a heart of expectancy and eyes open to see what new things God is doing.

So, can I encourage you to embrace January? Use it as a time to take stock, assess, survey what you have. Put away the Christmas decorations and let life just be what it is. What good things do you have in your life? How can you tend and care for them more intentionally? What needs weeding or pruning or feeding? What have you neglected that matters? What must you accept is over?

Then, shore up and consolidate what is valuable. Tend to the relationships that mean the most. Invest more time in knowing God. Love your family. Appreciate your friends. Be there for someone who needs you. Serve your church. Care about those who are suffering.

And, believe again for good things from God. Hold on to promises. Write them down. Shun cynicism and cultivate child-like faith. You can’t have both. Believe God for the big and the impossible. Pray audacious prayers. Dream big and hang out with other God-dreamers.

And if it is time, let things go. If you know God has shut a door, accept it. If you need to cry, cry. But, don’t look back. Look up. Set your heart on pilgrimage. Keep going. Keep serving. Keep worshipping and keep walking. Let God fill where you are empty and heal where you hurt. Don’t let even a drop of bitterness or resentment find a home in your heart. Not ever. Keep your heart soft and your conscience clear.

This year, give Jesus permission to do something new, something incredible, something life-giving and beautiful in your life. Give Him permission to do things differently than you have planned. Give Him permission to surprise and overwhelm your life with Kingdom bounty.

And, if you dare, give Him permission to do whatever it takes for you to know and love Him more and to walk in every good work He has planned for you.

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Positioned for promises

June 4, 2018January 17, 2020 Kelley Hunt2 Comments

Times of waiting on God can be tricky.

In Genesis chapter 15 we see Abraham’s bright idea to help God by having a child with Hagar. And then, in one of the saddest chapter of the Bible, we watch as his human solution plays out. It’s not pretty.

When chapter 17 begins, 13 long years have passed. I am sure God’s promise seemed a distant dream as each day Abraham watched his foolishness wreak havoc.

But then the Faithful One, the very author of the promise, speaks.

‘I am Almighty God; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between Me and you.’

And hope returns.

Almighty God, I am, Yahweh has spoken and He still has the full intention of doing everything He said He would. His promises are irrevocable because He is the One who keeps them.

But He wants something from Abraham. He wants Abraham to walk before Him. The Hebrew word for the phrase, before Him, is the same word used for the presence of God that Adam and Eve hid from after they had sinned.

God the Creator wants to be known.

Can you wrap your head around that today? This God we serve, who is working out His plans and purposes in the earth, isn’t some CEO of the universe who barks orders, directing His will from afar. He longs we would know Him, know His heart and His presence every day of our lives.

It reminds me of John 15.15 where Jesus says, ‘I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I call you friends for everything I learned from the Father I made known to you.’

Our God wants us to be part of what He is doing on earth. He has places for us to go and things for us to do. But first He wants a relationship.

And we need to know God in this way because just like Abraham, our human solutions often fall short at best. At worst they cause pain and loss. But the answer isn’t to live in fear of getting anything wrong or making silly decisions.

The answer is walking close to our Promise-giver God. It takes humility but also confidence and boldness, believing that God will do everything He has promised in His perfect timing.

Are you waiting for God today? Is there a promise you are believing for or a decision that needs to be made?

There is wisdom in being quiet enough and careful enough to hear God’s way of doing things. And, there is safety in God’s promises and in His presence.

Do what it takes to position yourself for both today.