The Virus That is JUST Waiting - Part II

So you suspect you’ve been secretly infected with Just Waiting. All of the symptoms line up. Where does that leave you? Can you recover from this virus and if so, how do you treat it?

First, start by understanding that being a victim of Just Waiting means you’re living with your attention directed towards all the wrong things. This virus keeps you focused on how you feel, the partner you want, the life you wish you had, when your time is going to come, how tired you are of waiting, the fact that everybody around you seems to have what you want...

Everything but GOD.

That’s why during my long bout of Just Waiting, I swore I was waiting on God and seeking Him, but I was actually sitting around impatient & idolizing the relationship I wanted the whole time.

When you’re in that condition, you’re susceptible to trying to make things happen on your own, and then wanting God to bless it after the fact. Ask any woman of faith about that. If you take that route, God will teach you time and time again that He will not bless what He did not ordain.

Luckily for us, that doesn't have to be our portion. Just Waiting isn’t terminal. A full recovery is very possible when you handle it right.

Whether you’re just scared you might get it, or you’ve already tested positive, how exactly can you combat it ?

Vitamin C, tea, and cough medicine will not do it. Not even ginger ale can protect you here. Overcoming this virus requires injecting your life with 100%, pure and non-watered down word of God.

For real.

By sanitizing and filling your inner space with Him, you leave much less chance for the virus to have you laying around pining over what you want from Him.

His word is the only antibiotic that wards off Just Waiting. If you want to fight this virus, you’ll need to begin taking it.

Start slowly, with small doses, if that’s the only way you can get it into your body at first.

Begin with a page a day. One Bible study plan at a time.

If there’s anything we should understand about God, it’s that He desires our heart and He’s willing to do whatever it takes to cultivate a good relationship with us. He’s been chasing us down for thousands of years, after all— since before we or half of our direct ancestors were even born or thought of.

It does not matter to Him which translation you opt for, whether you use a physical Bible or the Bible app, nor whether text/audio more effectively delivers His message to you. As long as you’re listening and engaging with Him.

Why does He care so much about that?

One, because no relationship can survive without communication. Two, because, though we tend to think of His word as optional, it is actually our only lifeline. It is our medication.

God’s word is how He communicates to us who He is. His word is what feeds and nurtures our relationship with Him. That relationship is the umbilical chord that connects us to Him in real time... from all the way across the Heavens, down into the Earth where we stand.

It is in God’s word that we learn His character. In learning His character, we see that, without a doubt, He loves us. We realize that like any good parent wants for their child, He wants only what’s best for us. And He truly desires to provide it, no matter the circumstances.

Just Waiting cripples your heart and mind from recognizing that.

It keeps you from understanding that you don’t have to be impatient, because God’s timing is far better than anything you could ever arrange/imagine.

That you don’t have to be jealous of anyone else’s situation, because what God has for you, has been crafted specifically for you and only you.

That you don’t have to doubt the possibilities, because the God you pray to is the same God who delivered the Israelites to freedom, who parted the Red Sea, who saved Daniel from the Lion’s den, who took Joseph from being the rejected youngest child to being a king, who had David defeat Goliath.

I get it. At times it feels like it will literally take a miracle for you to actually receive the desires of your heart. It often seems impossible that what you desire could even exist out in this same world we live in.

But has God never performed miracles? And can God not do the impossible?

Through interacting with Him and His word, we learn that He has and He can. In the building of our relationship with Him, our faith develops to constantly remind us that He will.

Believe me, you do not want to miss out on what’s on the other side of this illness. As someone in recovery from Just Waiting, there is such a stark contrast between my before/during, and after. Getting treatment has allowed my focus to shift from “God, what about me ? What about what I want?” to “God, how can I let You use me for Your will, and share of Your goodness along the way ?” Not necessarily so that I can receive something in return, but simply out of overflow from the love He’s shown to me.

Just Waiting kept me from seeing that God has loved me all my life. It took over and morphed my perception so bad, it took 22 years for me to begin fully valuing His love. All the while I was “Christian” but still willfully sinning, using His name in vain, and living as part of the World. Never waiting faithfully... just waiting. Not returning His love one bit.

Yet He continued to give it. Because God, indeed, loves us in sickness and in health. Knowing that, how could I think He’s incapable of sending me someone He’s equipped to do the same, out of the billions of people He’s already created?

Maybe you still find it hard to believe He can do it for you. And I understand. But if you really want to revive your faith and get well, begin by ingesting God’s promises. Start depositing the knowledge of His character into your heart, and let Him love the virus out of you. You don’t have to continue suffering from restlessness, jealousy, doubt, and stagnancy any longer.

Understand that He has unfathomable, undeniable goodness in store just for you. And that if you choose to seek first His kingdom, He will provide it all in due time. After all, even if being blessed with the type of partner you’re praying for really was “impossible,” it wouldn’t matter — His word shows us that God has done the impossible before, time after time, and assures us that He can easily do it again.

Know that His plan for your life, down to the very person He will lead you to glorify His name with, is worth waiting for in patience, in optimism, and in unshakeable faith.

Learn His truth and rest in it, so that you can reclaim your life and finally stop Just Waiting.