THE CURIOUS WAITING ROOM - by Heidi McLaughlin

Waiting frustrates me. It feels like an idle weapon of mass destruction ruining my precious time. Hanging on with limited patience to pay for my groceries, my laptop to fire up, for my left over dinner to re-heat, or a live human to answer a phone call; puts my teeth on edge. I’m like the little child in the back seat of the car impatiently pleading and whining, “Are we there yet-when are we going to get there?” 

God has been teaching me a different kind of waiting. Every Wednesday evening as I facilitate a Bible Study, I am surrounded by ten beautiful and eager women who desire to learn more about God. In the last few months we have been on a journey of discovery to learn to listen when God speaks to us.  As we share our personal stories of heartbreaks, waiting for a “big break” or physical healing, we pray and wait for God to answer our specific prayers. One of our women sits in a wheel chair because she had a ruptured aneurysm two years ago and we are waiting for her complete healing. One evening as we shared stories of what God has been teaching us over the past few months, my friend in the wheel chair answered very clearly: “God has taught me to wait.” I could feel the air being sucked out of the room as we all sat there raw and stunned.  Here is a woman who was in a coma, has just learned to speak again, has taken her first step and has hopes of walking her daughter down the aisle one day. But through this storm she has learned one of life’s most valuable lessons; to wait on God.

As I speak to audiences across our beautiful nation of Canada, I often hear women say: “Some days it feels as though we are standing in the middle of storms where we are shaken to our toes.” As I empathize with their personal dilemmas, I refocus them by giving new hope and strength by teaching them how to make valuable use of their “waiting time”. I tell the curious story about a chicken and the eagle.

When a storm comes, chickens run around madly flapping their wings, squawking, going in circles, digging in the same old dirt and going nowhere. The eagle is different. When it sees a storm approaching it sits on a rock and waits. As the storm draws nearer, the eagle rises up to catch the wind’s current so that the eagle can soar effortlessly and freely.  In fact, the eagle uses the strength of the wind to lift it higher and soar beyond its normal abilities. The eagle waits “expectantly.”

Expectant waiting is not aimlessly sitting in the front of the TV in yesterday’s pajamas, flicking channels, munching on junk food and hoping the next day will be different. It is knowing that God will use the storms in your life to make you more beautiful from the inside out.  

Many of you are in the middle of a storm. Please stop with me right now. Remember to wait expectantly by resting on the rock, Jesus Christ, and be reminded of some wonderful promises. One of them being: “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:32 NASB).Hang on my friend by waiting and hanging onto the rock, Jesus Christ, until the storm passes. 

Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. She is married to Pastor Jack and they have a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 9 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her husband and special friends. You can reach her at: www.heartconnection.ca