Waiting on the Lord

Everyone has experience waiting for something.  Every day we wait on things, maybe it’s standing in line at the grocery store, waiting in a doctor’s office or sitting in traffic at a stop light. Sometimes it seems you wait forever on the thing you are waiting for and sometimes I feel that the lord is really trying to get me to understand what it means to be patient or wait.

When I graduated from High School and was heading off to college, I had my life all planned out and thought it would go something like this:  I would study teaching at BYU, I would meet an RM (returned missionary) not my freshman year like so many other girls, but by the time I graduated.  We would get married and I would teach until the kids came.  We would have 2 boys and 2 girls and life would be perfect.  But like many people….my plan for my life was not what God had in store for me.

I did go to BYU and became a teacher, but found myself still single in my mid 20’s.  I got engaged, then was dumped and at the age of 28 found myself entering the world of online dating.  I began to wonder if I would ever find my Mr. Right. 

Eventually Nathan and I would meet online while he was stationed in Iraq and I was teaching 6^th grade in Orem. But my time waiting was not over yet.  We were married in April 2007,  and within the first year of our marriage I found myself saying goodbye as he returned to Iraq for a 15 month deployment.  I waited to find Nathan, and again found myself waiting to start that next phase in our lives. Though I thought that 15 months would last forever, it came and went.

Upon Nathan’s return from Iraq we were both ready and excited to start our family, but found ourselves waiting again as pregnancies turned into miscarriages time after time.

 I have learned and continue to learn what it means to wait.  The topic of waiting on the lord has become a very personal one, but what does it really mean to wait on the lord?  I have come to learn that it means more than just sitting around waiting on the Lord to bless me with the righteous desires of the heart. More than just sitting around in my favorite pajamas, watching my favorite show and feeling sorry for myself.

Yesterday I was able to attend an event in Salt Lake called Time Out for Women. For those of you who haven’t been it is a two day event filled with motivational speakers, and has become a tradition for my mom and I to attend each year. One of the speaker’s that touched me the most was a woman named Kris Belcher.  She is a woman that over time found herself without her eyesight.  Her outlook and humor when dealing with life, really touched me.  She talked about the topic of waiting on the Lord.  First she talked about the word waiting and gave the analogy of a waiter.  We can think of waiting in terms of a waiter at a restaurant.  In this sense, to wait on someone is to serve them. A good waiter or server gives his or her customers excellent care and attention by checking in often, learning their desires and attending to them. So it can be as we wait on the Lord.  

In a talk by Elder Hales titled Waiting on the Lord: Thy Will Be Done, Elder Hales also defines waiting on the Lord in the following ways.

- In the scriptures the word wait means to hope, to anticipate and to trust. 

-Waiting upon the lord means to stand fast, press forward in faith having a perfect brightness of hope.

-Waiting upon the lord means saying Thy will be done O’ lord and not ours.

During her presentation at Time Out for Women, Sister Belcher  gave three strategies we can use to help us as we wait upon the Lord:

1)     Look up-  Elder Carl B Cook in a recent conference address talks of a time when feeling overwhelmed:  At the end of a particularly tiring day toward the end of my first week as a General Authority, my briefcase was overloaded and my mind was preoccupied with the question “How can I possibly do this?” I left the office of the Seventy and entered the elevator of the Church Administration Building. As the elevator descended, my head was down and I stared blankly at the floor.The door opened and someone entered, but I didn’t look up. As the door closed, I heard someone ask, “What are you looking at down there?” I recognized that voice—it was President Thomas S. Monson.  I quickly looked up and responded, “Oh, nothing.” (I’m sure that clever response inspired confidence in my abilities!)

But he had seen my subdued countenance and my heavy briefcase. He smiled and lovingly suggested, while pointing heavenward, “It is better to look up!” As we traveled down one more level, he cheerfully explained that he was on his way to the temple. When he bid me farewell, his parting glance spoke again to my heart, “Now, remember, it is better to look up.”

As we parted, the words of a scripture came to mind: “Believe in God; believe that he is … ; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth.”1 As I thought of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s power, my heart found the comfort I had sought in vain from the floor of that descending elevator.

President Monson’s encouragement to look up is a metaphor for remembering Christ. As we remember Him and trust in His power, we receive strength through His Atonement. It is the means whereby we can be relieved of our anxieties, our burdens, and our suffering. It is the means whereby we can be forgiven and healed from the pain of our sins. It is the means whereby we can receive the faith and strength to endure all things.7

What do I do in my life to try to Look up?  Read my scriptures, say my prayers, attend the temple, attend my church meetings each week, listen to uplifting music.

2)     Look in- We can ask ourselves, what can I learn from this trial or experience that will make me a better person?  Count our blessings and express gratitude for that which we do have.   As this week is Thanksgiving this one stands out to me.  What do I have to be grateful for? Being a great aunt, being a great teacher, being a great wife, developing my talents, my new home, etc.

How do I look in? Read my patriarchal blessing and search for the gifts and promises I have been given

3. Look out- One benefit of waiting on a blessing is that it helps us to recognize those around us who are also in need.  Perhaps the need is different than our own, but we are more aware.  I don’t know what blessings others are waiting on, but I do know that they wait.  I have found compassion and empathy that I did not know I had.  I remember a time before I was married and I was attending the temple.  I sat there in the temple deep in thought, wrestling with an idea in my head.  I was aware of a woman sitting near me and didn’t think much of her until she left and came back.  Hesitantly she walked up to me and told me that she could tell that I was deep in thought over something and that she felt impressed to tell me that God was mindful of me and that

 He loved me.  I was so grateful for this woman and her kindness to me that day.  Her act of service encourages me to act on the promptings that I receive.

How do I look out?  Serving others, noticing other’s needs, fulfilling my duties and church callings and acting on promptings.

Recently I discovered a favorite scripture in Isaiah 40:31-

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

What an amazing promise!

 Shifting our attitude from one of just waiting, to one of waiting upon the Lord gives us focus and purpose if we remember to Look up, Look in and Look out.