Dear Friends,
Raise your hand if you’re good at waiting. Anyone? Anyone at all?
Waiting might be one of the most universal human experiences, and also one of the hardest. We’ve all been in that season where the prayer goes up and... nothing seems to come back down. Where everyone around you seems to be moving forward while you’re stuck watching the clock.
This week, we are diving headfirst into the waiting room. We will honestly explore what Scripture says about disappointment, promises, and how to be the kind of friend who shows up for someone in the middle of their own long wait. Spoiler: God is not absent, He’s just working on a timeline that’s bigger than ours.
Settle into your favorite chair and enjoy this week’s issue!
Encouraging you in God’s truth,
Why, Lord? | Jen Allee
When waiting gives way to disappointment, where do you turn? Jen Allee explores how expectations and comparison fuel our deepest heartaches, and how Asaph's ancient journey through Psalm 73 reveals the one place where bitterness becomes gratitude: the sanctuary of God.
Waiting on God to Fulfill a Promise | T. Windahl
Abraham waited 25 years. T. Windahl explores the six enemies that try to crowd into God's waiting room with us, how to fight them with Scripture, and what it looks like to cling to a promise when your circumstances make it look impossible.
Joy-Filled Waiting | Ashley N. Thomas
The people around you are waiting too. Ashley Thomas shows us how to be present for friends in hard seasons and how staying close to Jesus is the secret to finding joy while we wait for answers of our own.
Also:
Encounter the living Jesus throughout all of Scripture. Brought to you by the Passion movement, The Jesus Bible spotlights Jesus Christ as the central pillar throughout the entire Old and New Testament and shows you how to faithfully follow him as you participate in his grand story. Hundreds of articles identify references to Jesus throughout Scripture, helping you see how the full biblical narrative points back to him.
Why, Lord?
Battling Disappointment During Seasons of Waiting.
By Jen Allee
What do you do when God is silent about what you long for the most?
I remember waiting on Him for months, then years, wondering why He didn’t answer my deepest longing. Why, Lord? It just didn’t make sense.
As time wore on, an unwelcome guest took up residency in my heart. I repeatedly shooed it away, but in time, it sunk like a stone deep into my heart. I grew accustomed to the heaviness and learned to walk with the limp. Its name? Disappointment.
Disappointment is an emotion we don’t like to associate with God. Shouldn’t we always be thankful for Him? Quick to praise Him? It feels counterintuitive to be crestfallen in light of all He has done for us.
Yet there I was in my wait, willing myself to be content while the rumbling of dissatisfaction grew louder. I kept stuffing down the one question I so desperately wanted to ask: Why, Lord?
