Waiting and Hoping

I am tired. I am exhausted, both physically and mentally. I am drained. Can you relate to these feelings? Have you found yourself at this same place this week. Has it really only been a week? It feels like this new normal has been the normal for forever. I am tired.

We all find ourselves at this place at some point in this journey called life. There are times that just seem to require so much of us that they truly drain us dry and run us down. It is in times like this that so many lose hope. 

As a pastor, this coronavirus pandemic has totally changed so many things about how we do ministry. I am so thankful that last fall we at my church decided to look toward live streaming. We never intended to use live streaming the way we are now, we were simply looking for a solution to help us with overflow video and audio and the ability to allow our shut-ins to see the service. I have, more than once during these last two weeks, found myself overwhelmed by the goodness of God to us in all of this! His timing is far better than our timing, and His ways are far better than our ways. What we didn’t know back last fall as we started this, He did, and He put us in the perfect place step into this season of technological ministry that we find ourselves in today. But we also see how unprepared we were as well. Doing ministry in this era of social distancing requires so much more creativity and tech savvy in the way that we do things. I know so many of my pastor friends that I have spoken with over the last two weeks all say the same thing, that they are burning their candles at both ends. I even know some who would consider the place they’re in right now a place of hopelessness and despair. Are you there too?

Today as I was thinking about these conversations I have had and my own tiredness, I was reminded of one of my favorite scriptures from the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah‬ ‭40:31 we read, ‬“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” 

Maybe some of you find yourself, like my friends, in a place of hopelessness. Maybe some of you find yourself in a time of great weariness. Take heart, place your hope in Him knowing that he will renew your strength. The translation I memorized uses the word wait instead of hope. It reads, “those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength.” It seems that every day we hear new numbers of those affected by this virus, and new dates that seem to push further and further out before our lives will go back to normal. Waiting is hard, but in this season of rest that is exactly what we need to do: wait.

​What areas of your life do you need to learn to wait in? I know this is something that God is teaching me right now, and I am enjoying learning to rest and wait. Please don’t misunderstand me, this is not easy! As I said in an earlier post, resting is hard for me, and waiting is even harder! But I know that is what God is calling me to do, and I also know that on the other side of this my strength will be renewed and my weariness will be gone. Stop, be still, rest in Him and allow him to restore you and renew your strength. Don’t miss what he is doing in this time as he calls us to observe the rest.