Is there such a thing as a heart attitude in waiting seasons? Waiting is a multi-faceted act. We have roles. God has roles. We can equip ourselves to wait well by putting on a healthy mindset. But we must also cultivate healthy heart-set for waiting.
In 1994, I attended nine weddings. I was in two of them. I was happy for my friends who’d found their perfect-for-them husbands. At the same time, I ached for my own happily ever after.
After college, I dated a few guys. We went out once or twice. But they always lacked something I was looking for in a potential husband.
Finally, I told God I was done dating until He introduced me to the man He had for me. After my declaration, nine friends got engaged and then married.
That waiting time wreaked havoc on my heart. I wanted God’s very best for me, not my own version of “good enough.”
Waiting for God to bring Mr. Wonderful into my life was the wisest action, but it was also the most painful. Yet, it was in the waiting where I began to know God more deeply. As I devoted more time to Him, brought my heartaches to Him, cried out on those loneliest nights, I began to know Him better.
There are heart-sets we can establish that will help us in waiting seasons. When we have an accurate perspective about waiting our heart attitude becomes more healthy
Truths about Waiting Seasons
When God allows us to enter a waiting season, there’s always a reason He allows us to be there. We humans tend to experience a jumble of emotions, especially in the beginning. We attempt to control the wait. Or, we may try to avoid the wait. At times, we attempt to force the wait to end (which usually results in disaster). Anger, frustration, uncertainty, fear . . . they all influence our initial heart impressions in the waiting seasons.
Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude—Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude— Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be… Click To TweetSometimes, God must bring us to the end of ourselves before we’re ready to journey on the waiting path and discover God’s purposes. Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be.
After we establish a healthy mindset about waiting, we can cultivate the attitude of our heart.
Bible Finds About Our Heart Attitude and Waiting
Wait Expectantly. David laid his requests before his Father with the expectation that God would hear and respond. He waited with expectation for God’s response, not in dejection or doubt.
Wait in Hope. When we understand just WHO God is, it’s easier to wait in hope. Regardless of the circumstances we face, God is with us. He is our help and our shield. Our Father knows what we’re enduring. He knows what we need each moment on the waiting journey. Will we place our hope in Him or in obtaining a resolution to our circumstances? One of these leads to peace . . . the other to frustration and pain.
Wait Patiently. Because we’re all sooooo good at this, right? If God exhorts us to wait patiently, then He will help us to foster this quality in our waiting season. Waiting patiently looks like us not reacting when people or circumstances try to provoke us (see Psalm 37:7). It is us looking to God and trusting Him to act as He sees necessary. When we wait for something we don’t yet have, we wait for God’s timing, trusting His timing and ways are always perfect.
Wait Quietly. When I think of waiting quietly, I’m challenged not only to keep my mouth from complaining, but to help my heart choose trust rather than anxiety. When we’re in a situation where life tries to unseat us, we can trust that God sees. He is working in places and ways we can’t see. His salvation is coming.
Who Guides Our Heart Attitudes
Each of these heart attitudes grows from a foundation of trusting the Lord and his character. Our Father is good. He loves us perfectly, passionately, and completely. When we place our hope in Him rather than in anyone or anything else, we can cultivate healthy heart-sets.
Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude—Each of these heart attitudes grows from a foundation of trusting the Lord and his character. #tellhisstory #heartattitudes #waiting Click To Tweet
By the way, in 1995, I met my future husband. In those few years of not dating—of waiting on God alone—He taught me a lot about His nature. He prepared me for my Hubs and used that waiting time to prepare my husband for me.
There are seldom regrets when we walk through waiting seasons with a heart determined to trust God.
What about you? Which additional heart-sets have you discovered in the Bible? What heart attitudes has God cultivated within you in your own waiting seasons?
Such good insight on waiting, Jeanne. We often hear about waiting well. So your points about waiting expectantly, in hope, patiently and quietly helps us to really wait well. And I like how you connect our mindset and perspective to our heart attitude. We often forget it’s all about the heart on the Christian journey.
Karen, it seems the older I grow the more I realize how our perspective will impact our hearts. I’m so thankful God molds us, when we’re willing, so we have an accurate perspective and a heart that draws close to Him. Thank you so much for visiting, friend.
I love your following statement Jeanne;
“Sometimes, God must bring us to the end of ourselves before we’re ready to journey on the waiting path and discover God’s purposes. Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be.” Amen!
What I have learnt in my waiting for healing in this time of chronic disease is contentedness in stillness, where His voice can so clearly be heard & His comfort so strongly felt!
Blessings,
Jennifer
Jennifer, those are such wise lessons to learn when dealing with chronic disease. I’ve found, too, that it’s when I am still that my spirit is most attuned to hear God’s voice. Thank you for sharing your insights!
Great insights on waiting, Jeanne! Waiting patiently is very hard for me! I appreciated your transparency about waiting for Mr. Wonderful! I’m so glad God brought him into your life!
Waiting patiently is hard for me too, Kathy. 🙂 I’m so glad God is with us in the wait, though!
This, right here, Jeanne, I’ve learned the hard way –>’it was in the waiting where I began to know God more deeply.’
Too often we’re so busy looking for what we think we need even as it’s been staring at us right in the face, tugging at our heart. We need Him in all His completeness. That’s our focus, our heart, our greatest joy.
All other things pale in comparison. Nothing and no one gives life like He does …
Linda, you and I have both learned that lesson the hard way. I love the wisdom you shared here, my friend. We do need our Father in all His completeness. May we continually keep our heart and our eyes fixed on Him!
I love how God helps us to be expectant…even in situations that seem bleak. Your pics in this post are helping me wait more quietly, patiently, hopefully, and expectantly (yet eagerly)for a time of vacation this year!
Amy, yes! God does know how to maintain that sense expectancy within us, even in difficult situations. I’m so glad the pictures are helpful. Vacation would be wonderful, wouldn’t it??
What a powerful post with stunning images to accompany the words! Your words about the effort to control the early part of waiting are so much on point. Somehow it often seems that if we determine an end point for when the season will be complete that we can manage it more easily. I recall when my husband was on active duty and deployed in a war zone when we had been married only a year. We had just learned we were expecting our first child before he needed to leave and we were separated for 14 months with our son arriving about the mid point of those months. I had a big calendar I would put an X on each day and I used to relish how full it looked as the weeks of a month went by. Even the day he arrived home was a time of waiting since he was the last person to depart the plane at 6AM that Easter Sunday!
Pam, thanks for your kind words! your story about your husband being deployed early in your marriage resonated. That waiting must have been such an act of trusting God to protect Him and you during your time apart. The idea of marking the X’s on the calendar must have been a way to make the waiting a bit easier. I grinned about him being the last person off the plane. That sounds like something my husband would do too–make sure everyone got off before he disembarked. Thank you so much for sharing this example of waiting well.
There is so much wisdom here. I agree, waiting is hard but God can definitely use it to work in us. It’s hard to get the balance between holding on to hope while also being patient. I like your point that it comes from trusting in God’s goodness and putting our hope in him rather than in our circumstances being resolved.
Lesley, you said it. It’s hard to maintain that balance between holding onto hope and being patient. I’m thankful our Father is patient and leads us and reassures us when the waiting grows wearisome.
This is just what I needed to read today as I fast and pray through a verse tense season of waiting.
Awww, Lauren. Praying with you as you walk through this tense season!
Aw, Jeanne. Going to all of those weddings must have been emotionally exhausting for you. God knew what He had in store for you, of course–something better by far than settling for the wrong guy just to get that ring. 🙂 I think of this sometimes too … if I had married any of the guys that came before Randy, I have a sneaky suspicion it would have ended badly. But you’re right about the pain of waiting. And the difference it makes when we trust God with every aspect of the waiting season. Hugs, friend.
Lois, I have thought, briefly, of what it may have been like if I had married someone who I’d dated before my husband. I don’t think it would have gone nearly as wonderfully as married life with my honey. Trusting God in the wait makes all the difference in our hearts and minds.
Waiting is not always easy. But, God teaches me valuable lessons while I wait and I am thankful for those lessons.
Melissa, God is so faithful. He knows just what needs to happen in our lives to shape us into the people He designed us to be. And often, while waiting isn’t easy, He works effectively in those times, doesn’t He?
Jeanne, I love this ” Sometimes, God must bring us to the end of ourselves before we’re ready to journey on the waiting path and discover God’s purposes. Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be.” This is so true. It took me a while over my years, but I did learn to wait for him in his time. I’ve learned that during the wait, God is working behind the scenes for my good. Blessings.
Paula, it seems like I still sometimes find myself back in that place of choosing to wait for God’s timing rather than pushing for my own. I’m so grateful for His patience! I’m thankful for you sharing some of your experiences. Thanks, Paula!
Your welcome Jeanne. Blessings to you.
Jeanne, I like how you said, “When I think of waiting quietly, I’m challenged not only to keep my mouth from complaining, but to help my heart choose trust rather than anxiety.” I need to wait quietly!
You and me both, Deb! I’m so glad that encouraged you. 🙂
Waiting is never easy but usually, so worth it!
Agreed on both counts, Susan!
Beautiful post, Jeanne. I especially liked this: “Sometimes, God must bring us to the end of ourselves before we’re ready to journey on the waiting path and discover God’s purposes.” It sounds a lot like the emptiness I am searching for with my word of the year, “empty”. I never saw the relationship between a pause and emptiness before, but you have made me see it so clearly. Thank you!
Ahhh, Laurie. I like what you’re learning about “empty” this year. I love reading what you’re learning!
Thank you, Jeanne for this hope filled post! So true, no one likes to wait! In fact I think I dread waiting more than hearing the actual bad news. But your tips for waiting well with the proper heart attitude are excellent. I know in my waiting seasons I can waver between attempting to seize control to total helplessness. But it is all a matter of trust isn’t it? Trusting that God is good and our story is not over yet.
Donna, I can definitely agree with what you said about the waiting being more difficult than actually hearing bad news. I’m glad you find the tips for our heart attitude helpful. God’s word is good that way, isn’t it? 🙂 Yes, I believe it really comes down to how well we trust God in the waiting. I love your reminder that our story isn’t over yet. Thank goodness our Father walks every step alongside us!
I like how you have a Hawaii scene and then a snow scene! Life is like that…changing seasons that seem to be long when in it and then a blink when we look behind us. I was in a waiting season for second chance at marriage and then I think I’ve just resolved it isn’t happening (after 20 years). And not waiting anymore. Yet, hope is something never, ever to leave behind, isn’t it? With many things, I think God draws me to a heart state of hope. Gosh…even my tag line for my business is Inspiring Hope!
Thank you, Lynn. Trust a photographer to note the differences in scenes. 🙂 I imagine it is hard to let go of a heart desire like marriage. I love what you said about hope being soemthing we should never leave behind. “A heart state of hope.” I like that. Thank you for sharing a bit of your heart and your insights here, friend!
I struggle to wait patiently for God’s solans to come to fruition. I’m learning to wait, but it sure isn’t easy! I find that waiting in gratitude helps. If I keep a list each day of what I’m grateful for, I often realize it’s easier to wait.
Anita, I struggle to wait patiently too. I’m learning, slowly, to yield my plans to my Father’s plans. It often requires that I die to myself. I love your idea of a daily gratitude list. That helps keep an accurate perspective, doesn’t it?
You show us well that waiting is not a passive game. It’s a very active period of constantly adjusting our attitudes and getting in alignment with the Lord. For most of us (myself included) it is hard. But in the long run, it also can prove very beneficial as you demonstrate. Thanks, Jeanne!
Lisa, yes, waiting is definitely active! “To wait” is a verb. We have choices during waiting, and I like what you highlighteda bout how we can adjust our attitudes to come into alignment with the Lord. It’s often humbling work. Thank you so much for sharing your honesty and insight.
Waiting is hard, but as you said, it’s never wasted. We see so many people in the Bible who veered off into wrong actions while waiting. May God give us grace to wait patiently for His perfect timing and allow Him to work His will in our character through the wait.
Barbara, I’m with you in that prayer. May we choose to wait intentionally for God’s perfect timing and plans to be worked in our lives. I’m so thankful He uses every opportunity to both refine our characters and to draw us closer to Himelf.
I’m no-one’s Mr. Wonderful,
I’m no-one’s shining knight,
but marriage ain’t refundable,
and I have seen the light
that faded from a lady’s eyes
when I failed to measure up,
and in that something dies
when I drink the cup
of knowledge of the ways I failed,
of knowing dead and dying dreams,
of knowing hopes so deadly paled
in the silent night-time screams.
If there’s one prayer for God to hear,
it’s to heal who I hold dear.
We’ve had the conversation so many times, Jeanne. We are being refined by the waiting, a process that is neither easy nor fun, and yet we profit from it to the extent that we submit to its shaping and burning.
So true, Michele. 🙂 Waiting is neither easy nor fun, but God uses it definitively in our lives, doesn’t He?Your description of the way waiting tends to shape us is apt. 🙂
Awww, Andrew. The best thing is, while we have breath we can begin the process of change. I’m praying for you, dear friend. And, God has amazing ways of working healing in hearts. I’m praying for you both.
Jeanne, thank you.