Waiting Isnt Wasted

Waiting Isn’t Wasted

1/9/2026

Often, as one year comes to a close and a new one begins, we consider the changes we’d like to make or how we can implement new rhythms and routines to better our lives. While I think looking ahead and setting goals is a worthy endeavor for the new year, it is also a great time to pause and look back. For the last couple of years, I have tried to make it a practice to spend time reflecting on the closing year.

What were the high points?
What were the lows?
How did God show His faithfulness?
What lessons has God taught me that I want to carry with me into this new year?

That last question is something I have really given a lot of thought to in the past couple of weeks. Throughout the past year, God taught and revealed many things to me.

At the heart of all of these lessons, I have come to recognize a recurring theme. If I could neatly sum up this past year, I would have to say it has centered around a prolonged season of waiting.

For the last couple of years, my husband and I have felt very confident that God is pointing us in a particular direction. We can see the vision of where God is leading us, and we are eager to arrive where we feel He is leading us. But at the same time, we’ve been faced with delays and obstacles that have been unpleasant, disappointing, and often downright scary.

Our faith has definitely been tested. I wish I could say we have never lost heart or been angry that the timeline we assumed was certain has turned out to be anything but. It has been very easy to believe the lie that this time of waiting is a waste, as if we are just spinning our wheels and going nowhere. I am so thankful that even in our frailty and sinfulness, God has been faithful to lead us and teach us so much about Himself, our own hearts, and the purposes of waiting.

Let me share with you two lessons God continues to teach me about prolonged seasons of waiting and why they are so good for us.

Seasons of waiting are good for us because they reveal where our trust really lies.
When we live in seasons of waiting, it doesn’t take long for our true affections and our true heart posture to be exposed. None of us are all that good at waiting. We don’t like to feel hindered or delayed. We want things to be timely, prompt, and convenient. When they are not, our true selves rise to the surface. And unfortunately, our true self is usually not our best look.

So it is with seasons where God sovereignly intends for us to wait for what we desire. When days turn into weeks, then months, and perhaps years, our veneer of patience is worn off to reveal our discontentment, self-reliance, ingratitude, and lack of trust in God and His timing.

These things need to come to the surface. They need to be revealed. We need to see what lies beneath when our timelines and idols are challenged. If we never see it, we will never change it. Without evidence of our sin to confront us, we would not come to God humbly asking for forgiveness and His strength to put these sinful attitudes to death.

God often uses waiting to expose the true state of our hearts. Without it, we could easily delude ourselves and grow complacent in sin. In His kindness, God uses these seasons to unearth the parts of us we’d rather not see but desperately must.
Seasons of waiting are when God does His best work.
Waiting can often feel wasted because it feels like life has hit pause. The thing we want to happen isn’t happening, so in our minds, that must mean nothing is happening, right? How wrong we are to think this way.

When it comes to waiting, we would do well to consider the popular saying, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.”

A few weeks ago, my husband completed the Honolulu Marathon for the third time! It is always so exciting to watch him cross the finish line. But that finish line means nothing isolated on its own. That moment of finishing the race, as amazing as it may be, is not what makes the difference. It’s the weeks and months of training. It is the discipline to stick to workouts and a proper diet. It’s the investing of time, energy, and resources into preparing for the race. That is where the change and the growth take place. It happens in the time between signing up and race day. In that season of waiting, there is work to be done — important work. And, it’s that work that makes crossing the line so joyful and triumphant! The finish line means nothing without the journey it takes to get there.

Friend, God is doing work, important work, in your season of waiting. We must understand that seasons of waiting are seasons of preparing. While we are anxious to have our hopes, goals, and desires fulfilled, God knows we’re not ready yet. We need to be prepared. If my husband tried to run his marathon without training or preparation, his experience would have been a miserable one.

It is easy to become so fixed on the finish line or the mountain-top that we miss where we are right now. Right now, there is work to do. Right now, there are preparations that need to happen. God knows both what is best for us and the best time to give it. We can trust that His timeline is never late, and our waiting isn’t without purpose. God is taking His time preparing and shaping you before He ever sets you in place.

As we journey through seasons of waiting, we will likely never notice the changes that God is working in and around us. It takes time and perspective to be able to step back and see even part of the scope of His handiwork. Back in February of 2025, our family welcomed 3 baby chicks into our home. Our main goal in doing this was to get fresh eggs. Hens do not start egg-laying until at least 4-6 months, so this meant we were committed to lots of care and responsibility over these chickens with no payout up front.

As the timeframe for when the hens could start laying eggs came, we got excited! Every day, we carefully watched them for signs they might be ready and checked the nesting boxes for eggs. But there was nothing. Every day seemed the same. We kept feeding, watering, and caring for them, but nothing seemed to progress. We started to get a little discouraged. And then, it happened. One day, we went out, and there was an egg! I can honestly say I have never been so excited about an egg in all my life!

When I think about all those months caring for our hens with no outward changes or headway, I feel kind of foolish for how I missed it. There were changes. I may not have always been able to see it with my eyes, but inside those hens were changing. Their bodies were developing and preparing. Now, I look back at pictures I took, and I can see the outward growth and progress over time.

So it is with seasons of waiting. While we are in them, we may feel stuck, useless, or defeated. We may even feel robbed of something truly good. But Friend, God is doing a work and your waiting is not in vain.

Lamentations 3:25: "The LORD [Yahweh] is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him.”
Psalm 27:14: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD!”
Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Habakkuk 2:3: "For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens toward the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”

As we head into this new year, our family is still in our season of waiting. But I am learning to take comfort in that rather than dismay. I find comfort in knowing that God is still good. I’m encouraged that He is revealing and rooting out sin in us, shaping us and refining us in this time. I am still hopeful for the future because I know that right now, God is doing work in me. He is actively preparing me for future blessings! He is still faithful to me, even when I doubt.

If you are also in a season of waiting, take heart! There is no better place for you, for if there were, that is where God would put you. Your waiting has purpose. Don’t miss it! Don’t miss what He is doing right here, right now. Don’t waste this time of waiting, for God surely isn’t. Seek Him. Trust Him. Worship Him. One day, all of His purposes will be revealed — and it will certainly be worth the wait.