Patience in the Waiting

 

    Let's go all the way back to November, shall we? My husband, Garrett, had sent me a text one day while at work and said (more or less) This place is so stupid, I wish I could go somewhere else where I can mind my own business, do my job, then go home; and that he already didn't want to be there, and this stupid stuff wasn't helping. Then he said, please pray I find where I'm supposed to be. My response to this was, "I know babe, I do." So, I made it a point on my way home from work that day to really pray for him and his situation. 

    Several hours later a family friend calls me and says that her husband, Gary, wants to talk to Garrett about a job. I thought wow, that was fast, God must already have a plan in motion. The next day Garrett applied for the job, and he said he felt good about it; it felt right. And that it was too convenient that Gary happened to have him in mind as I prayed. But then the waiting began, and days turned into weeks. I can't tell you how many times he said, I wish I'd hear something about this job, or I wish they would call me. I tried to be encouraging and supportive, but I'm not going to lie, after a while it got to the point that I was getting frustrated and annoyed with him. I just didn't know what to say to him anymore. I felt like a broken record telling him "I know, I'm sorry, just be patient." Or some version of that over and over. At one point I said, "I don't know what to tell you anymore, I'm sorry." And, yes, or course I feel bad about that! That was a moment for me to stop and ask God to help me through this as well, so I could be there for Garrett the way I needed to be.

    When weeks turned into months, I think we were both starting to wonder if this really was God's plan for him, or if it was just a coincidence that I got that call a few hours after praying. Sometimes those moments of doubt creep in; it happens to all of us. We just have to remember that God does have a plan for each and every one of us. We may not know what it is yet, and we might be expecting something WE want, but that may not be what God wants. So now as I prayed for my husband I made sure to include something like, "show him what your plan is for him." Somewhere along the way I reminded Garrett of a sermon we had heard where the pastor talked about being content. That really stuck with me, and now I knew why. So, I told him, you're just going to have to figure out how to be content with where you are. And that became another thing I needed to pray about; "help him be content with where he is while he waits" Because all he could think about was how badly he wanted out of his current job, and the potential of a new one made his days at his current job even more miserable. But I did start to see a slow change in him as time went on, and I think he actually did start to become content/happy at work.

    Every so often Gary would try to update Garrett if he heard anything about when they would start interviewing people. With the bad winter we were having, it kind of put things on hold for a while. But then finally, mid-April, Garrett got a call for an interview! Several days after his interview he got a call from them; they said they had a guy with a ton of experience that they're talking to, but he lived kind of far away so it may not work out. They told him that they were impressed with him though. Garrett told me he would understand if they hired this other guy since he had a ton of experience with this particular job, and he didn't have any. I said, "Well you never know, if it's God's plan for you it'll work out." A few days later he gets another call, and they want him to come in for a second interview. We're both thinking ok this is a good sign, maybe it didn't work out with the other guy. We are now into May when he has his second interview, and it seemed like it went really well. A few days later they called him to tell him HE GOT THE JOB! When he told me, I was fighting back tears because I was so happy for him. It would be about a month before he started, but he didn't care. He was just so happy he got the job! 

    After Garrett's first day, he told me that this was the first time going to a new job where he didn't feel nervous or anything, he was actually excited. And I said "yeah, I was thinking the same thing last night; that this job feels different than any of your others have, it really feels right." After 6 long months of waiting, our prayers had been answered. A lot of people probably would've given up long ago and moved on, but he had such a good feeling about this job that he never gave up hope. I think both of us learned a lot and grew a lot during that time. And even though we don't always know God's plan for us, (and sometimes we just want to give up,) we have to remember that it's all in God's timing, not ours. He has a plan; we just have to trust Him and have patience in the waiting. 

    I was trying to look back for the sermon I mentioned, hoping to share a bible verse or something from it, but I couldn't find it or any notes I'd taken. I just felt like I needed something more to add before I posted this. Then, a couple days ago, I decided to scroll through my Bible app and (without looking) click on a book of the bible so I could find a chapter to read. I landed in Philippians, and I started to kind of skim through each chapter to see which one I wanted to focus on. As I'm looking through chapter 4, I stopped at verses 12 and 13, because I had highlighted them.

 12) "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13) I can do all this though Him who gives me strength."

 I knew I had to read them to my husband when he got home; and I said, "I wonder if these verses were mentioned in that sermon!" It definitely seemed like a good possibility, but I may never know for sure. When I clicked on the verses, I was able to see when I highlighted them. I stared at the date for a second then asked my husband, "what day did you start your job again?" He said, "June 2nd." I said "no way! I highlighted these verses on June 2nd of last year!" Neither of us could believe it; I mean, what are the chances of that? Seems as though God had a plan in motion long before we knew it!

"Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord." Psalms 27:14"