Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude - Jeanne Takenaka
Contents
Is there such a thing as a heart attitude in waiting seasons? Waiting is a multi-faceted act. We have roles. God has roles. We can equip ourselves to wait well by putting on a healthy mindset. But we must also cultivate healthy heart-set for waiting.
In 1994, I attended nine weddings. I was in two of them. I was happy for my friends who’d found their perfect-for-them husbands. At the same time, I ached for my own happily ever after.
After college, I dated a few guys. We went out once or twice. But they always lacked something I was looking for in a potential husband.
Finally, I told God I was done dating until He introduced me to the man He had for me. After my declaration, nine friends got engaged and then married.
That waiting time wreaked havoc on my heart. I wanted God’s very best for me, not my own version of “good enough.”
Waiting for God to bring Mr. Wonderful into my life was the wisest action, but it was also the most painful. Yet, it was in the waiting where I began to know God more deeply. As I devoted more time to Him, brought my heartaches to Him, cried out on those loneliest nights, I began to know Him better.
There are heart-sets we can establish that will help us in waiting seasons. When we have an accurate perspective about waiting our heart attitude becomes more healthy
Truths about Waiting Seasons
When God allows us to enter a waiting season, there’s always a reason He allows us to be there. We humans tend to experience a jumble of emotions, especially in the beginning. We attempt to control the wait. Or, we may try to avoid the wait. At times, we attempt to force the wait to end (which usually results in disaster). Anger, frustration, uncertainty, fear . . . they all influence our initial heart impressions in the waiting seasons.
Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude—Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude— Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be… Click To Tweet
Sometimes, God must bring us to the end of ourselves before we’re ready to journey on the waiting path and discover God’s purposes. Waiting seasons are never wasted. They are opportunities for growing closer to the Lord and more into the people He created us to be.
After we establish a healthy mindset about waiting, we can cultivate the attitude of our heart.
Bible Finds About Our Heart Attitude and Waiting
Wait Expectantly. David laid his requests before his Father with the expectation that God would hear and respond. He waited with expectation for God’s response, not in dejection or doubt.
Wait in Hope. When we understand just WHO God is, it’s easier to wait in hope. Regardless of the circumstances we face, God is with us. He is our help and our shield. Our Father knows what we’re enduring. He knows what we need each moment on the waiting journey. Will we place our hope in Him or in obtaining a resolution to our circumstances? One of these leads to peace . . . the other to frustration and pain.
Wait Patiently. Because we’re all sooooo good at this, right? If God exhorts us to wait patiently, then He will help us to foster this quality in our waiting season. Waiting patiently looks like us not reacting when people or circumstances try to provoke us (see Psalm 37:7). It is us looking to God and trusting Him to act as He sees necessary. When we wait for something we don’t yet have, we wait for God’s timing, trusting His timing and ways are always perfect.
Wait Quietly. When I think of waiting quietly, I’m challenged not only to keep my mouth from complaining, but to help my heart choose trust rather than anxiety. When we’re in a situation where life tries to unseat us, we can trust that God sees. He is working in places and ways we can’t see. His salvation is coming.
Who Guides Our Heart Attitudes
Each of these heart attitudes grows from a foundation of trusting the Lord and his character. Our Father is good. He loves us perfectly, passionately, and completely. When we place our hope in Him rather than in anyone or anything else, we can cultivate healthy heart-sets.
Waiting: 4 How To's for a Healthy Heart Attitude—Each of these heart attitudes grows from a foundation of trusting the Lord and his character. #tellhisstory #heartattitudes #waiting Click To Tweet
By the way, in 1995, I met my future husband. In those few years of not dating—of waiting on God alone—He taught me a lot about His nature. He prepared me for my Hubs and used that waiting time to prepare my husband for me.
There are seldom regrets when we walk through waiting seasons with a heart determined to trust God.
What about you? Which additional heart-sets have you discovered in the Bible? What heart attitudes has God cultivated within you in your own waiting seasons?
