Hurry Up and Wait

Hello Dear Friends!
  It has been a while, and I am hoping that the New Year has refreshed, refueled, and refocused you to chase after your dreams.  If you are like I am, the New Year is always exciting because it offers a fresh starting point for heading towards your goals, and an ending point for evaluating your previous year's progress.  I do a lot of thinking around the New Year, and lately I've been thinking about when part of reaching our dreams requires us to wait.  I, for one, am not a "waiter."  I am a doer, a march-full-steam-ahead-because-my-mind-is-made-up kind of person.  (If you don't believe me, ask my dad, who was recently trapped in my car when I unexpectedly whipped off a road into a parking lot yelling, "Thrift Warehouse!")
  But more to the point.  For those of us who are driven to chase after our dreams and goals, even if the momentary goal is finding a low cost piece of furniture for your house, having to sit around and wait for someone to help us accomplish our goals is, well, frustrating.  For me, I am in a long waiting process of seeing a book come to publication.  As a doer, it seems to me like I should just be able to sit down at the computer, type out the book, and BAM!  Finished product.  But it doesn't work like that.  After I've done my part by writing the book,  I then have to begin waiting for the publishers, editors, and illustrators to do their job of making it into a complete work.  Now, trust me, this is not something that I could do without their help, but sitting back and waiting for someone else to finish my dream is like being halfway through a suspenseful movie for half of a year.  And honestly, aside from checking my e-mail repeatedly for updates (which I do), and covering the project in prayer, there's not a lot else I can do.
  Many things in life are like this though.  We may have a dream placed on our heart by God, and after we have worked and done our part, we simply have to sit back and wait for Him to bring it to fruition, and sometimes, for us doers, the waiting is the hardest part, because we aren't in control.  In the waiting phase it's easy to start to doubt or grow discouraged, but this is where we can exercise our faith the most.  Hebrews says it like this, "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." (Hebrews 10:35-36)  So, whatever you are waiting to see completed today, maybe a business that's waiting for the right property to become available, an adult child who may have taken a path you didn't expect in life, or a marriage which needs to see restoration.  Remember, after you have done your part, embrace the waiting and let God do His part.  He is faithful.  "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."  (Proverbs 16:3)
  Take heart today friend.  I'm waiting along with you, and I can't wait to see you succeed!

~K.W.