Sunday, February 27, 2011

Lessons Learned through Life's Interludes


One of the most frustrating parts of my quarterlife crisis is the many interludes. The grand pauses of waiting for life's milestone and society's indicators of success that don't magically appear in your living room after singing Mister Rogers "Waiting Song".

Recently,I have gained a new insight into handling the white pages in our life story through reading "Esther" by Charles Swindoll. He wrote about how the silent yet eloquent interlude between Chapter 4 and 5 for the book of Esther symbolizes Esther's fasting time, which she used to take time to let God guide her thoughts and frame her words before entering the presence of King Ahasuerus uninvited. But despite the interlude in this part of the story, we can see the beauty of God's invisibility,as he was working in the hearts of Esther and King Ahasuerus.

Isaiah 40:31 shares a beautiful promise about waiting:
Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

I want to share a excerpt from the book which the uses Isaiah 40:31 to teach us four things we learn from waiting.

1.We gain new strength.We may feel weak,intimidated,when we turn to our Lord.While waiting,amazingly,we exchange our weakness for His strength.
2.We get a better perspective.It says we will mount up with wings like eagles." Eagles can spot fish in a lake several miles away on a clear day.By soaring like eagles while waiting,we gain perspective on what we are dealing with.
3.We store up extra energy."We will run and not get tired,"Notice,it's future tense.When we do encounter the thing we have been dreading,we will encounter it with new strength-extra will be ours to use.
4.We will deepen our determination to persevere.We "will walk and not become weary." The Lord whispers reassurance to us.He puts steel in our bones so to speak.We begin to feel increasingly more invincible.


Reflection Video: This is a powerful video of Juanita Bynum's testimony through her song
I Don't Mind Waiting.
http://youtu.be/_hEiGEfm2uE

~Dani~