They who wait for the Lord will renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).
From Pastor Matt: Below, Sean and Laura Schools share a story about the difficulty and blessing of waiting upon God:
The two of us met in church. It was 2002, the peak of the I Kissed Dating Goodbye movement. So, although we were interested in each other, we were very much “not dating”. After a year, the commitment of our relationship was suddenly pressured, revealing immature expectations that led to disappointment and anger (mostly Sean). There was resentment in the years that followed, marked by a noticeable effort to avoid each other (again, mostly Sean). We both went our separate ways, Laura more internationally than Sean.
Seven years went by, and then the fall of 2009 arrived. Both of us found ourselves back home. Our friendship resumed, thanks to a young adult small group. And from there, well….. We were engaged the following March and married four months later, July 4th, 2010.
The story of our relationship has taught us the mysterious wisdom of God’s timing. Looking back, there was much God wanted to teach us individually during those seven years apart. There was painful discipline (Sean) and lessons in hopeful patience (Laura) that needed to take place before the Lord saw it good to bring us together. Our story reminds us of Lamentations 3:25, The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
God could have said “no” to our marriage, and He would still be good. (Scripture doesn’t promise we will get what we want if we wait long enough!) And so our story is not so much about Christian romance as it is about waiting and believing in the goodness of God. Regardless of marital status, age, or vocation, we are all waiting on the Lord for something — if only for His return when He will make all things new.
Waiting is difficult! We have tasted both the joy and the sorrow of the Lord’s timing. It’s only in Jesus that we have full confidence that God is good to those who seek Him. We encourage you to trust our Lord’s sovereign goodness and lean into the graces He gives us in Jesus for seasons of waiting.
