Waiting Rooms Change in an Instant

Waiting rooms change in an instant. And that’s about the best thing I can say about them. Let me tell you about mine.

Since September 23, when IES first began, my life has become a waiting room. Excitement turned to anticipation, and anticipation turned to waiting, and now waiting is all I do. Lately, waiting has turned to negative things. I’ve started questioning. I’ve struggled to believe. It’s been like watching a ship go down with a leak you knew would start; because it’s supposed to seem unlikely, people are supposed to ask when it’s time to—you know—and it’s supposed to look darkest before the clear. These are how good stories go. But I wasn’t supposed to hop on the debbie downer bandwagon.

There was a fantastic Seacoast sermon about waiting rooms several months ago, but I can’t remember what they said you should do. I remember what they said you shouldn’t do, and that is to complain, because I’ve been doing a lot of it. It makes everything a problem. Good things become bad and bad things become worse. I’ve also become fantastic at blaming, being pessimistic, ignoring the positive to focus on the negative, and concentrating on my problems to become more miserable. These are horrible parts of me that surface when I’m waiting.

But they can also only change through more waiting.

Faith, it turns out, is best cultivated while waiting. So is strength, hope, and appreciation for what God’s given you and what lies ahead. Waiting is when you get things done. Becoming more like Him takes time and a lot of waiting. Besides, it does no good to have IES running if part of running it well requires patience.

Today, like almost every other day for the past several months, I called Joe Riley’s assistant to find out if there was any news, and this time the news was surprisingly good. Our case is finally making it to the front lines.

Meaning we could start. Meaning things could change in an instant.

In the meantime, I want to make the most of this waiting room—forgetting the parts I’ve botched—and becoming an encouragement to you. Waiting rooms take many different forms and we all endure and sit in them in one way or another. Make the most of the opportunity. If you’ve REALLY done all you CAN do, don’t stress about doing more. Take heart, and have faith, because (insert as many expletives here as you’d like) waiting rooms change in an instant.