Waiting sounds gentle until you’re the one stuck in it. It’s the hourglass that won’t flip, the download bar frozen at 99%, the prayer that echoes back with holy silence. We wait for answers, open doors, healed hearts, paid bills, cleared paths. We wait for promises that feel older than we are. And in the quiet in-between, doubt tries to cosplay as wisdom: “Maybe God forgot.” Nah. He didn’t.

Scripture doesn’t roll its eyes at waiting; it dignifies it. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart” (Psalm 27:14, KJV). That’s not a passive sit-still command; it’s an active posture—courage plus dependence. Another anchor verse: “They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength… they shall run and not be weary” (Isaiah 40:31, ESV). Waiting in God is not wasted time; it’s weight training for the soul.

If you’re in a season of delay—approval pending, prayer pending, life pending—this isn’t punishment. It’s preparation. Let’s talk about what waiting really is, what it is not, and how to breathe, build, and believe inside it.

What Waiting Feels Like

Let’s keep it 100: waiting can feel like a personal attack. You did the work, you pressed submit, you kept the faith—and still… crickets. Your emotions start doing laps. One day you’re hopeful, the next day you’re Googling plan B at 2 a.m. (Been there.) But God isn’t late; He’s precise. “For still the vision awaits its appointed time… If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3, ESV).

Here are a few myths that try to hijack the waiting room—and the truths that shut them down:

Myth: “If it was God, it would be quick.”
Truth: God grows oaks, not microwaves. He values roots. (James 1:2–4, ESV)
Myth: “Silence means no.”
Truth: Silence often means “not yet.” Heaven’s calendar has better data than ours. (Lamentations 3:25–26, ESV)
Myth: “I’m behind.”
Truth: You’re on assignment. Your life is not late to itself. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, ESV)

Waiting hurts because it exposes what we trust. That exposure is mercy. God isn’t shaming you; He’s shaping you—untangling your hope from outcomes so it can cling to Him.

What Scripture Means by “Wait”

The Hebrew word often translated wait is qavah—to hope, look eagerly, expect; it carries the picture of strands twisted into a cord. I love that image: waiting isn’t flopping on the couch; it’s the soul twining itself around God’s character until strength transfers. “I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope” (Psalm 130:5, KJV).

Biblical waiting includes three beats:

Attention — Eyes up. We watch for His movement more than we watch the clock.
Obedience — We do the last clear thing He told us while we’re waiting on the next thing.
Expectation — Not entitlement; expectancy. A steady “God will” that refuses to downgrade to “maybe.”

This is why waiting produces maturity. “…that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4, ESV). The wait stretches our faith from event-based to God-based. When the promise is slow, the Promiser is not. He’s binding your heart to His so when the door opens, your character can carry the blessing without breaking.

What To Do While You Wait

Okay, brass tacks. Here are practices that make waiting fruitful instead of frustrating:

Pray honest, not fancy.
Tell God the truth: “I’m tired. I’m hopeful. I’m scared.” David prayed like that and kept his crown. (See Psalms.)
Scripture on repeat (small portions, deep).
Pick 3–5 “anchor verses” and live in them for a month—read, journal, voice-note them. (Start with Psalm 27:14; Isaiah 40:31; Romans 8:28, ESV.)
Steward what’s already in your hand.
Waiting doesn’t cancel work. Organize your systems, sharpen your craft, clean up your website, write the draft. Faith moves the broom and the pen.
Serve someone else’s miracle.
Sow time or skill into another person’s project. Seeds in another field still bring harvest to yours. (Galatians 6:9, ESV)
Practice Sabbath-style rest.
Rest isn’t laziness; it’s loyalty. It says, “God, You’re God while I sleep.”
Micro-obedience.
Take one small faithful step daily—send the email, make the call, learn the tool. Small yeses stack like bricks.
Guard your inputs.
Limit doom-scrolling and comparison. Curate your feed to voices that add faith, not static.

None of these “earn” the answer; they posture you to receive it with a grounded heart.

A Quiet Testimony from the Middle

I’ve lived enough “pending” screens to know this isn’t theory. As a mother, creator, and woman building by faith, I’ve prayed prayers that took their time. Some came swift; others crawled. In the in-between, God did something I didn’t ask for: He matured my why. He peeled back layers of hurry and taught me to want Him more than His handouts. He corrected timelines I had baptized as “urgent” but were really just fear wearing a smartwatch.

There were mornings I whispered, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief,” and kept building—one design, one page, one song, one act of obedience at a time. And you know what? Strength showed up quietly, like dawn through a curtain. Not fireworks—faith-works. The kind that keeps you gentle when you could spin out, bold when you’d rather hide, consistent when applause is absent. That is the miracle inside waiting: God forms us into people who can carry the very thing we prayed for without crumbling under it.

If you’re here too, sit with this promise: “The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25, ESV). Good—right here, not just later.

Prayer, Declarations, and Reflection

Prayer
Father, teach my heart to twine around Yours. Heal the parts of me that panic at delays. I release false deadlines and receive Your timing. Give me daily bread, faith, steady hands, and clear steps. I trust You with what I see and what I don’t. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Declarations (say them out loud):

I wait with God, not for God.
My delays are not denials; they are designs.
I will be faithful in the small while God prepares the big.
Strength is rising in me as I hope in the Lord.
I am exactly on time for my assignment.

Reflection

Where do I feel most impatient right now? What fear sits under that?
Which “anchor verse” will I memorize this week, and when will I rehearse it daily?
What’s one small obedient step I can take in the next 24 hours?
Who can I serve while I wait? Name one person and one action.
What boundary do I need to set to protect my faith (news, social, conversations)?

Closing
Waiting is not the hallway between real life and your calling. It is real life—sacred ground where God braids strength into your soul. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28, ESV). Not some things—all. Even this wait. Especially this wait.

Brave in Broken Places is my personal story of survival, surrender, and healing—with guided reflections at the end of every chapter to help you unpack your own story. This isn’t just reading—it’s restoration. Grab the book here – Brave in Broken Places

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