A Year of Waiting - Respite

The word respite is a waiting word, but one that usually gives the idea of a welcome break. A respite is defined by Webster’s Online Dictionary as (noun) a period of temporary delay, an internal rest or relief; as (verb) to grant a temporary period of relief to, or to grant a respite to, or to put off or delay. A respite is a term also applied to giving a caregiver a break from caring for an ill loved one.

As I type this my husband and I are on, what I would call, a respite. We got away for the purpose of rest and relief. Although, I think a true respite would be to completely unplug, with no phone or internet, something that is rarely attained, even when we purpose to do it. However, just getting a change of scenery and getting outside can provide a similar benefit to a true respite.

Image by Julia from Pixabay

Doesn’t that picture make you want to get away? Ha, ha. Getting away is something both my spouse and I find cathartic to the chaos filled, fast paced and anxiety inducing lives we are often living. Even though we no longer have children at home, we live close to our girls, and in turn our grandsons. This is a wonderful thing and I count myself very blessed to have both of our grandsons in our lives and to be a part of helping our daughters and their significant others take care of and have input in their lives.

In addition to family my spouse’s job keeps him busy, and I have my blog and all the other responsibilities of maintaining a home, grocery shopping, making meals, laundry, the list goes on. As with most people we are also constantly bombarded by images, noise, and input in the form of news, social media, and everything else we have access to on the internet.

As I have in all the past posts on A Year of Waiting, I find a definite connection to our waiting on the Lord. So often, God brings circumstances into our lives to bring us into a waiting position. We are to wait for Him, whether it is for deliverance, justice, healing, rescue, hope, glory or perfection. Waiting is much less about what we are waiting for and more about who brought us to a place of waiting.

Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

The Old and New Testaments are full of examples of men and women who had to wait. Noah had to wait while building the ark for the actual flood, over 100 years of waiting. Abraham waited a lifetime for a son. Hannah waited for a child. The people of Israel waited 400 years before they were lead out of slavery from the Egyptians. Simeon waited his whole life for the One who would save Israel. Jesus waited approximately 30 years before starting his public ministry. Life is filled with waiting.

When we look closely at the word respite we see it is a waiting that is meant for good. Indeed, I believe that all waiting brought about by God’s orchestration is meant for our good. As I mentioned in my original post at the beginning of this year, Word for 2024: Wait, waiting can be to keep us safe, give us rest, or give us time to think through a decision or recover from a difficult circumstance or tragedy.

Unfortunately, finding a respite in these busy, chaos filled, and tragic times can be difficult. It really takes a choice and often a predetermined plan. Whether you need to find time to spend with God or time to regroup and reenergize, or time to grieve and heal, the best way to get a respite is to schedule it in just like you would a doctor’s appointment, a trip to the gym, or a visit with a friend.

Image by SerenityArt from Pixabay

Don’t think of it so much in terms of quantity as in quality. An individual who is providing long term care for a sick or aging family member finds they are much better able to cope when they can just walk a way, even for a short time period. Whether it be 15 or 30 minutes for a walk outside, a two hour walk around the mall, or an entire weekend in a different location you can find respite in the smallest of changes and moments.

Also, recognize what might work for me, might not work for you. Not everyone likes the outdoors. I can actually sit out on our patio on a sunny day and feel like I am getting away from whatever struggle I am dealing with. Both my spouse and I love to take walks and hike, but not everyone does. The point is to find what works for you.

Respite is a type of waiting that is important for all of us to do. God made the Sabbath for our benefit, and for His glory, but it seems in this day and age, we have forgotten how to rest and be still, whether you believe the Sabbath is on Saturday or Sunday. God knew how restless a people we would be and also how fatigued we would become from our nonstop lifestyle.

“10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.””

— Psalm 46:10 (NASB 1995)

“28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.””

— Matthew 11:28-30 (NASB 1995)

I hope you will find time for a respite, and find time to go to the Creator of your soul who truly knows how to give you rest.

A Year of Waiting - Pause

If you have been following me since the beginning of this year, I chose the word, wait as my word of the year. After I chose the word, I thought it would be a good idea to devote one Faith post a month to this idea of waiting. In mulling the idea over, I thought it would be interesting to look at different definitions and nuances of the word wait, after all, waiting isn’t just about standing in line to get tickets to see your favorite band, or board your flight. Waiting is a time consuming part of our lives, and I feel it deserves a weightier look. Ha, ha. See what I did there?

Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay

Let’s look at the definitions for the word pause as given in Webster’s Online Dictionary.

As a noun:

1 - a temporary stop

2 - a - a break in a verse

b - a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts.

3 - temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty: Hesitation

4 - a - the sign denoting a fermata (music related)

b - a mark (such as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a pause of voice

5 - a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider)

6 - a function of an electronic device that pauses a recording

As a verb:

Intransitive -

1 - to stop temporarily

2 - to linger for a time

Transitive -

to cause to pause: stop

Let’s pause at the word pause. Ha, ha. I think it would be good to temporarily stop, and hesitate when it comes to considering the word pause; a word we really don’t think much about. We often view a pause as an interruption, but a pause is often necessary to be able to think, take a new direction, or find peace and restoration.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

When my first grandson came along, I became familiar with Time Out’s, a discipline method that is still used by many parents today. The purpose of a Time Out is to allow the child to not only think about what they have done wrong, but give them time to cool down if a situation has become volatile. I think this is a well intended method, and preferable in many ways to a spanking or some other form of physical punishment. I know for my grandson it was fairly effective in curbing misbehavior, though I don’t know for sure what he was thinking about during the Time Out. Ha, ha.

A Time Out is a good way to think of the word pause. It is a time to pull away and think about things. We see that Jesus gave us the same type of example when He would get away by Himself to pray. He paused His busy activities of healing people, teaching his disciples, and making new followers to get away and think, breath and pray.

“36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.””

— Matthew 26:36 (NASB 1995)

“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.”

— Mark 1:35 (NASB 1995)

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

— Luke 5:16 (NASB 1995)

Image by Sonam Prajapati from Pixabay

While the Bible does not specifically use the word pause as we know and use it, there is the use of a Hebrew term in the book of Psalms and Habakkuk that literally means, think about it. This is the word, Selah.

“Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.”

— Psalm 24:10 (NASB 1995)

“I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.”

— Psalm 32:5 (NASB 1995)

“The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.”

— Psalm 46:7 (NASB 1995)

“God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.”

— Habakkuk 3:3 (NASB 1995)

The word, Selah is used 71 times in the Psalms and 3 times in the book of Habakkuk. Obviously, the Psalmist thought it was important to use this phrase often. He wanted us to think about all that God had done, both the rescuing and the judging because both are very important to remember.

If you find yourself in a time of waiting think about how you can see this as a time to pause. A good idea might be to keep a journal where you can think about why God might have you in a waiting period. You could use journalling as a time to pause from the busyness of life to pray, think, and consider. There are so many reasons God might want you to take a Time Out. These are just a few:

1 - Rest.

Image by DanaTentis from Pixabay

I mentioned this in my initial post in January, Word for 2024: Wait. As women, and Christ followers it is not uncommon to burn ourselves out. We are constantly doing, giving, helping, working; often with little time to catch our breath, let alone do something for ourselves. Let’s face it, we barely even pray for ourselves. We fail to process our emotions, because we are always helping others to carry or process their emotional loads. Even when we lay down at night we run through our to do lists, and before we get up in the still hours of the morning we are praying for all our wandering lambs.

I just turned 60, and I am only beginning to understand this is not really what God wants for us. We are God’s creation. God is the heavy lifter, I am but dust. Perhaps if I became more acquainted with this mighty, omnipotent being I would spend more time relishing the practice of His presence in worship and adoration, rather than trying to solve every problem for everyone we love and care for. God will work it out. He alone is able.

This being said, I know how hard this is. Letting go and actually resting is probably the hardest thing we can do, especially as mothers. It took a major illness to change my way of thinking, and even now I still struggle against this trending current; this current that says you only have value if you are doing and being. However, it was during the time I was down and out that I heard and saw the love and provision of the Lord in a new and deeper way. And, He’s not done yet. I am still learning how to rest, how to take time for myself, how to spend more time with Him, and how to let go of all of the preconceived notions of what gives me value.

2 - To change our thought patterns.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

As used in the book of Psalms, and Habakkuk, taking a moment to think about what the scripture was saying was important enough to include the term, Selah. Perhaps our waiting time is not just about rest, but about changing the way we think, or taking us back to thinking about what is really important.

A time of illness, recovery, or job loss can certainly give you ample opportunity to think. The important thing is that we think about the right things. Am I thinking about my struggles, or am I thinking about God’s goodness? Am I dwelling on my anger, or thinking about God’s provision? Am I tempted to continue in a behavior or a wrong way of thinking, or am I ready for God to bring about change?

The best way to change our thought lives is through regular reading and study of God’s Word, and through the mindset of choosing gratitude and joy.

3 - To change our actions.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

Just like a child being sent into a time out, God will often use times of waiting or times of pause to gently turn us away from bad or unproductive behaviors towards truth in Him which will also cause changes in our actions. As Christ followers we should always be growing and changing to become more like Christ, and that may involve changing many of our fleshly behaviors.

Since I lost my job in 2019, and went through a health crisis in 2021, I have had a lot more time to spend reading, and studying God’s word. I am not a very disciplined person, so I don’t regularly get up in the wee hours of the morning to have my quiet time, but lately, the Lord seems to be waking me up earlier, even when I feel dog tired (and these days that is a regular occurrence) so I can have that time with him. I believe God knows our hearts and our circumstances. If we are open to His work in our lives, He will bring it about.

If you are in a situation right now where you are waiting, consider it a pause. Linger over your Heavenly Father and get to know Him better. This will always help you feel more content while you are waiting.

Have a great day.

Word for 2024: Wait

I didn’t do a word for the year last year, but this year I felt as though I needed to take on that task again. I played around with a number of words including trust, and joy, but the word wait seemed to stand out as the place I am in right now.

Image by Fang_Y_M from Pixabay

Wait is not a word we like to hear. We usually associate waiting with something bad, like rush hour traffic and test results on an exam, or from your doctor’s office. We typically look at waiting as something that is forced upon us, that we really, really don’t want to do. Like a child on Christmas morning who wants to open his presents, but mom and dad tell him he has to wait until after breakfast, waiting is a torment.

Think about the first time you went to an amusement park and you were finally tall enough to ride that really big roller coaster. You stand in line with your friends laughing and joking about how exciting it is going to be, but inside you are feeling slightly nauseous. The waiting is like an affliction. “Just get me to the front of the line and strap me in so I can get this over with!” You want to prove how brave you are to your buddies, while at the same time you are trying to keep your knobby knees from shaking. Waiting can be very hard.

Image by jing shi from Pixabay

The word wait, according to Webster’s online dictionary means: to remain stationary in readiness or expectation; to look forward expectantly; to hold back expectantly; to be ready and available; pause or stop. When I looked at the thesaurus wait had many other related words and I will be looking at some of these over this next year, because I think it is important to fully understand why waiting is so important in our Christian walk.

This week I would like to look at several benefits waiting has for us.

Image by Roy from Pixabay

Safety - We all learn from a very young age to look both ways before we cross the street. Streets can be dangerous with cars darting back and forth. If we did not wait to cross we might get run over. The same is true in our Christian lives. We may not always see the dangers ahead, whether they be real physical dangers or dangers from our enemy in the spiritual realm. God sees and knows everything about our lives, and He knows when we are facing the dangers from poorly thought out decisions, toxic relationships, or even self destructive tendencies. Often, the best thing to do when we are not sure what to do is wait.

Image by Tikovka1355 from Pixabay

Rest - A child often finds it hard to rest when they are waiting for Christmas morning, but as adults it seems God will often put us on our backsides when He knows we need to rest, but we are too stubborn to do it. This is very hard for women. We are doers, and we are constantly helping our families, our friends and people in our circles, like church family. These are not bad things. It is obvious a lot of work would go undone if women weren’t around to do it. However, I do think as Christian women we often find our worth, not in the God who made us, but in what we do. We love to check off all the boxes on our to do lists, and if something goes unchecked we are upset with ourselves.

I have news for you. You don’t have to do everything. I have been learning this the hard way over the last few years with illness, and continuous symptoms that make it difficult to do all the things I used to do. More of my time is spent managing symptoms and going to doctor’s appointments than I used to, and I struggle more with fatigue. Through it all I have been learning what it means to come to Jesus and find rest for my soul.

Image by info254 from Pixabay

Time - Most of us would agree, the one thing we wish we had more of is time. I often find myself at the end of the day wondering where the day went, and feeling like I didn’t get anything done. We wish our days could be longer, or the weekends could always be three days instead of two, or other time centered thoughts. It is true, since Covid brought the new normal of working from home, some people have more flex in their schedules, but I am pretty sure, even they long for more time.

It might sound strange, but waiting is basically getting back time. Obviously, there are certain situations where waiting involves keeping your focus, such as in a traffic jam, or standing in a slow moving line, but many times waiting affords us the opportunity of time. You might be between jobs, waiting for test results from a biopsy, looking for a long term relationship, or waiting to hear from your son or daughter who moved out. No matter what brought you to the waiting period, it is the perfect place to find God.

The author of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament understood this time element of life.

“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—”

— Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NASB 1995)

This leads me to believe that even the waiting times are appointed by God. He has a purpose for the busy times and the waiting times. He alone knows why life is the way it is for you, for me, for all of us. Perhaps He knows you need to rest, or that you are facing a situation where you need to be safe and secure, or that you just need time to regroup or decompress.

I am hoping over this next year to learn how to wait better. Perhaps you are in a waiting time in your life as well, maybe we can wait together.

Let me know in the comments if God is calling you to wait.