I have experienced many seasons of waiting on the Lord. Waiting
for God to open doors, answer prayers or provide answers. Some of these waiting
seasons were short, some long, some longer.
Some even came with no answers; where whatever I was waiting for didn't come to
fruition.
And you know what? I can't say I'm that great at waiting.
Usually when there is something I know I want, I'm not content until I have it.
Ouch! That actually hurt a little bit to admit. But it's true. I have a hard
time being content in seasons of waiting, when I think I know exactly what I
want and I just have to have it. Can
you relate? At least a little?
I feel like I've been waiting on this one particular thing
for an undesirable amount of time and God keeps giving me this word...
Contentment.
Then I read an Instagram post about being “all in” in the
season you are in even if it's not what you want, or if you are waiting for the
next thing. And it just settled right on my heart. I feel like for so many
years I've always been "waiting for the next thing" or phase in life.
I mean seriously, I could not wait to be an adult. Like, could not wait! I
dreamed about all the ways adulthood would be perfectly awesome. Now that I'm here, I'm like... (raises hand) "Can I get
a refund?"
But seriously, all that time I spent focused on the next
phase, left me feeling utterly discontent with the phase right under my nose.
So it makes sense now that God keeps pointing me to contentment.
I'm reminded of a story in the Bible that talks about a
young girl named Rebecca. I first learned about Rebecca while doing one of our
women's Bible studies on the book, “The Blessed Woman” written by Debbie
Morris. The chapter on Rebecca talks about serving while you wait. If I
remember correctly the chapter was geared more toward the single gals, but when
I think about being “all in” in your current season, I'm reminded of Rebecca's
part in the story.
This particular story is about Abraham's servant traveling
back to Abraham's homeland to find a wife for his son, Isaac. Along the way he
seeks God's guidance and comes across Rebecca. (Spoiler alert: Rebecca is the
ONE God has in mind!) I just want to look at this one part about Rebecca that
stands out. Genesis 24:17-20 tells us that after the servant asks her for
water, she gives him a drink and then offers to get water for all of his
camels.
“When she had finished
giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also,
until they have finished drinking." So she quickly emptied her jar into
the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his
camels.” Genesis 24:19-20 (ESV)
This stands out to me because Rebecca goes above and beyond.
She doesn't just give the man a drink, she makes sure the camels are taken care
of too. This required multiple trips to and from the well to get enough water
for the camels. She joyfully served the people (and animals) right in front of
her face.
We don't know if Rebecca was waiting for God to send her a
husband or not but let's assume that was a desire in her heart. She didn't sit
at home, woe is me, ignoring her responsibilities, or wishing for things to be
different or better (ahem, it's just me who does this, I'm sure!) She
participated in her “right now” life, and she was all in. Seeing this in
Rebecca's life is an encouragement to me. I think she was all in because she
was content. I think that is the secret to contentment, right? Being ALL IN in
the season right in front of your nose, your real “right now” life; showing up,
serving the people around you, and meeting the needs that are right there,
right now. It's good to dream and plan but don't let that get in the way of
being content.
God desires his children to be content in the good things
He's given us, gifted to us. When we choose contentment, when we choose to be “all
in” we are blessed!
“That each of them may
eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of
God.” Ecclesiastes 3:13 (NIV)
Ladies, if you struggle with contentment, if you are in a
season of waiting, or perhaps the waiting has been a long road, I am right there
with you! Let's learn from Rebecca. We can choose to serve while we wait. We
can choose to be content. And the first step is being ALL IN! Amen? Amen!
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