I am waiting for God to make a big reveal this week.
The results of a writing contest I entered in early January should be announced in the next 24 hours.
A range of feelings has gripped me in the past eight weeks. First, excitement. Then impatience. Then elation, anxiety, and doubt. Close to the end, a strange mixture of hope, fear, and readiness for it all to be over. I’ve been waiting with a bundle of emotions for the past 52 days.
In the midst of it all, I held to my center of thankfulness. I kept recounting the ways God wove all the pieces together in this story. I kept trusting in his timing and his unseen plans for me. I thanked him for everything, and each prayer of thanks was a thread woven into his tapestry.
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT
In college I took a fiber arts class. I fell in love with the art of weaving. The back-and-forth rhythm of the shuttle through taut threads soothed my stressful days. After many passes back and forth, a beautiful weaving emerged. I am teaching this art to my daughter now with her mini-loom, pictured here.
What I learned in weaving applies to my waiting now.
For a weaving to work, tension is crucial. The piece won’t hold together unless the warp strands are tight. All those tight emotions I felt–anxiety, doubt, fear–produced a healthy kind of stress, which made me be brave and seek votes for the contest. Those tight emotions (such as the fear of letting myself down and letting God down) spurred me to action. If I hadn’t felt some tension, I would have never pushed myself as hard.
Yet the soothing back-and-forth motion of the weft strands were like the thankful prayers I spoke every day on my way to work and every time I walked in the afternoons. Each prayer was a thread:
- God, I thank you for introducing me to linkups, which helped me find the contest.
- Thank you Lord for my years of writing in journals, which prepared me for blogging.
- God, I thank you for other trials this year which have spurred my dream pursuit.
Thankfulness has grounded me through this two-month wait. It will ground me through the long wait on my journey toward traditional publishing. Even if I win this contest and everything aligns quickly, I know many months and possibly years will pass before I see my books on the shelves of my local Barnes & Noble bookstore. Thankfulness must be my grounding force in this long wait. Recounting God’s faithfulness to me will keep me steady with all the uncertainties, rolling emotions, and healthy tensions to come.
Questions for your reflection:
How has thankfulness grounded you in a season of waiting?
How can recounting God’s faithfulness keep your faith grounded?
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