As summer fades and fall approaches, life tends to speed up. School schedules return, activities fill our calendars, holidays begin to appear on the horizon, and year-end responsibilities start demanding our attention. Before long, many of us find ourselves moving from one task to the next, wondering where the time went.
Over the past several months, we've explored these themes through our Ruthless Elimination of Hurry series, considering the importance of slowing down, creating margin, and resisting the constant pressure to live at an unsustainable pace. But even after we learn to slow down, another challenge often remains:
What happens when God asks us to wait?
If you missed the series, you can read through it here:
Courtney Dent
The truth is that many of our greatest frustrations aren't caused by what's on our calendar. They're caused by waiting.
We wait for answers to prayers. We wait for direction. We wait for healing, opportunities, relationships, or clarity about the future. We wait for circumstances to change and for God to move in ways we can actually see.
If we're honest with ourselves, most of us don't like waiting.
We live in a culture that celebrates speed. We can order groceries from our phones, stream movies instantly, and find answers to questions in seconds. Convenience has become the norm. When something takes longer than expected, frustration often follows.
This desire for immediate results can easily shape our spiritual lives as well. We want God to answer quickly, open doors immediately, and reveal His plans on our preferred timeline. But Scripture tells a different story. Throughout the Bible, God often works through seasons of waiting, not around them.
Perhaps the real issue isn't that we have a scheduling problem. Perhaps we have a patience problem.
Over the past year, patience has been a lesson our family has been learning firsthand.
Last October, my husband and I began the process of finishing our basement so it could become a dedicated playroom. We had been using an upstairs bedroom as a playroom, but with us expecting our second baby (born in March), we knew that space would soon need to be turned back into a bedroom. While a playroom wasn't a necessity for just our kids, we did need the space if we wanted to continue hosting a small group at our church that offered childcare.
At the beginning, we thought we had plenty of time. Surely we could finish the project before our due date mid-March. Instead, months turned into nearly a full year.
There were delays, unexpected challenges, and more setbacks than we anticipated. What we thought would be a fairly straightforward project often felt like it was moving at a crawl. Now that we're in crunch time, my husband has spent many evenings after long workdays spent downstairs continuing to work on it while I take care of both kids.
To be honest, there were plenty of moments when I wished it would just be done… or that we didn't even have a basement to begin with. I wanted one less thing hanging over our heads (especially taking care of 2 kids under 2.)
Looking back, I realize during all of this, God was also teaching us perseverance, flexibility, and trust. The project rarely moved according to our timeline, yet somehow God continued to provide what we needed each step of the way. Thankfully, the basement was completed just in time for the start of our small group (thanks to my husband the help from several other people).
While a home renovation is far less significant than many of the waiting seasons we face in life, it served as a reminder that waiting is rarely comfortable. We naturally want things to happen faster. We want immediate results. Yet God often uses the process itself to shape us in ways the finished product never could.
Why Waiting Feels So Difficult
Waiting is challenging because it reminds us of something we'd rather not admit: we're not in control.
When life is moving according to our plans, it's easy to feel confident and secure. But waiting forces us to acknowledge that some things are beyond our ability to manage. No amount of planning, effort, or determination can speed up God's timing. This is often where anxiety begins to creep in.
When answers don't come as quickly as we'd like, we may wonder if God hears us. We question whether we've made the right decisions or if we're headed in the right direction. Sometimes we even mistake God's delay for God's absence. But waiting does not mean God has forgotten us.
Psalm 27:14 encourages us:
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Notice that Scripture doesn't simply tell us to wait. It tells us to wait with courage and confidence. That's because biblical patience is not passive resignation. It's active trust. Waiting becomes easier when we remember who we're waiting on.
God Often Works Through Waiting
If you've ever felt discouraged by a season of waiting, you're in good company. Scripture is filled with stories of faithful people who waited.
Abraham waited years for the son God promised him. Joseph waited through betrayal, slavery, and prison before seeing God's plan unfold. David was anointed king long before he ever sat on the throne. The people of Israel waited centuries for the Messiah.
Again and again, God worked through seasons that seemed longer than anyone would have chosen. It's tempting to view waiting as a pause in God's work, but the Bible shows us something different. Waiting is often part of His work.
Abraham's faith was strengthened in the waiting. Joseph's character was refined in the waiting. David learned dependence on God in the waiting. The delay wasn't wasted. It was part of the process.
The same is often true in our lives. Even when we can't see immediate progress, God may be developing something beneath the surface that couldn't happen any other way.
What God Produces Through Patience
One of the clearest passages about patience is found in James 1:2-4:
"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
This passage reminds us that patience is not something we naturally possess. It is developed through trials, delays, and circumstances we would not choose for ourselves.
When we're waiting for answers, direction, or change, it's easy to focus entirely on the outcome. Yet God is often doing important work in us while we wait. Patience teaches us to trust Him when we don't have all the answers, surrender what we cannot control, and depend on Him more deeply.
Throughout Scripture, we see that waiting was never wasted. Abraham, Joseph, David, and many others experienced long periods of uncertainty before seeing God's promises fulfilled. In each case, God was working not only toward an outcome but also within the person. The same is true for us. While we focus on what we're waiting for, God may be more focused on who we're becoming.
Waiting Well
As we move into a busy fall season, many of us will feel pressure to move faster, accomplish more, and stick to our own timelines. But patience invites us to slow down and remember that God is not rushed. Waiting well doesn't mean enjoying every delay. It means trusting God's character even when His timing feels difficult to understand.
One way to do this is by focusing on what God has placed in front of us today instead of becoming consumed with tomorrow's questions. Another is remembering His faithfulness in previous seasons. Looking back often strengthens our confidence to move forward.
A Final Thought
Looking back on our basement project, I can see that God was teaching our family much more than construction skills and perseverance. He was teaching us to trust Him when things weren't happening according to our schedule. Many of our waiting seasons are like that. The thing we're waiting for often captures our attention, but God may be accomplishing something deeper through the process itself.
If you find yourself in a season of waiting today, remember that God's delays are not the same as His absence. He sees what we cannot see and is faithfully working, even when progress feels slow. As we enter a season that will likely be busier with each passing week, perhaps the invitation is not simply to slow down, but to trust God while we wait. Because sometimes the greatest work He accomplishes happens before we ever reach the destination.
