Worth the Wait

So I drove 320 miles (or roughly 5 hours) to Mt. Airy, North Carolina this weekend.

You know, for 24 hours.

Because they are just worth it.

I mean, it's almost even worth the drive for the drive.

But 'cept you get there and realize that no, no this is what makes the drive worth it.

For years we prayed and prayed for one baby.

Consider those prayers answered.

In ways far greater than we could have imagined.

And we even imagined it pretty great.

As Yvette sat little 8th grade me down and casually, yet sincerely told me to never change, I fervently prayed that her life would-- that God would give her a baby. 

The answer for a long time was "no."

Why? I can't even know. Sometimes that's just God's answer. It is an answer. Frustrating and hurtful and painful as it may be, it is an answer. The Townsends are a good example of that for me.

But they are also an example of when "no" is not the final answer.

The woman whose tears poured on Mother's day, whose arms ached of emptiness, now celebrates with three children (with never enough arms).

And they were worth the wait.

Could it be that this same principle might apply to other situations in life?

God, I need a job. No.

God, I need a car. No.

God, I need a spouse. No.

God, I need my health. No.

What then? How frustrating are these answers?

But aren't they answers? And isn't there a good chance that they are for now...

If this is what lay ahead of the blood, sweat and tears of Laurence and Yvette's pleading with the Lord, what answers await us? Will it always be "no?"

Possibly.

But maybe, just maybe, there is a "yes" ahead.

Either way, in Jesus we have hope. It may not be in the bright faces of three blue eyed children, but ultimately there is hope. In Karthia we've been studying Hebrews and this past week we talked about having the gift of working on God's timeline. Not the fragile span of time we live on this Earth.

So I don't get what I want. Do I have what I need? Wish I acted like it all the time. Because there is something so sweet about receiving what you want after you've learned what you really need.

"But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast" (Hebrews 3:6).

That sweetness?

It is worth holding out hope for.

And that hope?

Could be realized on my timeline...

...or on God's.

Or?

Both.

But that hope will be realized.

And it will be worth the wait.