For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly, my hope is in him. Psalm 62.6
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
Been doing that a lot this past month. Maybe I should say this past year. Now that I think about it, I've spent a lot of time waiting these last ten years.
In 2003, the Assemblies of God officially commissioned Stuart and I as missionaries. We traveled extensively and worked exhaustively as we waited (impatiently) for 18 months until we arrived in Jamaica on July 4, 2005.
Since then we have traveled to Costa Rica to work on learning Spanish to prepare for ministry in Mexico. Missionary colleagues promised us that magic moment when our brain would “click” and we would exclaim, “¡Aha, podemos entender español!”
Um, still waiting on that click.
God is no stranger to waiting, though. Thousands of years God waited, but when the right time came, he sent his Son, born of a woman ... (Galatians 4.4).
Through the season of Advent, our family lit candles as we waited to celebrate his birth.
We lit one Advent candle to remind us that the prophets foretold of his appearing (Isaiah 9.6). We lit two candles to remind us he was born a man in Bethlehem (Luke 2.4-7). We lit three candles to recognize that we like the shepherds must come to Christ, believe in him, and tell the good news to others (Luke 2.8-12). We lit four candles to anticipate Christ's second appearing and focus on his salvation (Luke 2.13-14).
Advent is the season of anticipation.
Of longing.
Of waiting.
Of longing.
Of waiting.
But some things are worth the wait.
Merry Christmas,
Stuart & Wendy
Merry Christmas,
Stuart & Wendy
