I’ve heard it said that discomfort precedes growth and you don’t grow while you’re comfortable. Makes sense, especially as I look over my life. It’s been in those times that I felt pain, out of place, discomfort, that God was able to take me from where I was, a comfortable place, to where He wanted me. I grew.
Currently, I find myself in a place in between. I’m in sort of a waiting room. Something that occurred to me the other day is that to reach the point of arriving in a waiting room, something, had to happen. Maybe you or a loved one is having a surgery, so you wait. Maybe, you’re in for a routine, or sick, visit with the doctor or a specialist. Whatever the case, something, some sort of discomfort, brought you to the waiting room.
It doesn’t end there. While you are in the waiting room, waiting to be called or updated on the progress of _______, work is being done in the background. Whether the provider is preparing the room for you or your loved one, reading over your chart, or an actual procedure is being performed, work is being done while you’re in the waiting room. When the work/procedure/preparations are done, you are called back/ given an update.
Our walk with God can be like that sometimes. Sometimes, we find ourselves in a waiting room. Let me assure you, as I assure myself, work is being done in the background. We can’t always see it, we don’t always realize or even know, but the wait is not empty and meaningless. Usually, for me, it takes discomfort to lead me to that place. It takes sickness and/or pain to send me to the doctor. Though the time varies, I wait. It takes the discomfort of others, sometimes, to send me to the waiting room, where I wait.
Sometimes, the time spent in the waiting room feels as though it will never end. Just when you’ve had just about all you can take, just when you’re ready to give up and walk away, you’re called back, or given that update. Because work is being done while you wait. Sometimes, the work is extensive. Sometimes, it’s just a little thing. The wait is always worth it.
I’ve found that the times I’ve waited, though in the moment they felt like an eternity, were rather small/ short in comparison to event for which I was waiting.
Now, I’m learning to not become so uneasy with the discomfort or the waiting, but to trust that these are growth opportunities and all things will surely work together for good.
*Original Image by Yours Truly
On the Outside Looking In 