The gate slammed shut right as my brother and I reached the front of the line.

Four-year-old Kyle stuck out his lower lip and proceeded to grasp ahold of the gate, peering through the wires at the lucky kids who were already able to enter the gate and ride the fun Taz Swings at this Six Flags park.

His brow furrowed and he begun to shake the gate as hard as his tiny arms could. “Let me in!” He pouted. “Let me in!”

A minute passed, but it could have been a century in his young mind. Finally, the ride attendant returned, opened the gate, and let Kyle and I enter.

Waiting is hard.

Waiting for something you really want is even harder.

Patience is tough.

Especially when the wait is longer than a minute, and maybe more like a month, two months, or a year.

Some of us are in a season of waiting right now.

Where we are waiting on God to bring us a boyfriend, a husband, or a child.

The longings we have to be a wife and mother are good and pure, but in the meanwhile– whilst we wait on God- it can be SOOO hard to be patient.

Which brings us to two case studies I’d like us to look at.

Waiting for something can be super hard, so here are a few things to keep in mind for when you are in a season of waiting.

Case Study: Rachel {Genesis 29-30}

Once upon a time, there were two women named Rachel and Leah. And they happened to be married to the same dude, whose name was Jacob.

And this caused a lot (and I mean A LOT) of household stress.

You see, Jacob favored Rachel. He loved her more than he loved Leah.

So you’d think Rachel would be really happy, right?
Wrong.

You see, Rachel didn’t have any kids. Try and try as she might, she just couldn’t become pregnant.

Leah, on the other hand, kept having kids. One right after another, it seems.

After Leah had given birth to four babies, Rachel had had enough! She marched right up to her husband and demanded, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

Jacob was very wise, because he basically told her, “Yo! I’m not God! I have no control over whether or not you become pregnant!” (Retold in my own words, lol.)

So Jacob points her to God. Yay!
Does Rachel follow his pointing?
Nope.

Instead, she takes matters into her own hands.

She practically shoves her maidservant to Jacob and tells him to sleep with her so that she can have a child via her maidservant.

And Rachel and Leah continue to war back and forth over who will have the next baby. It’s a frantic story, one one of jealousy and discontentment.

Back and forth it goes. Leah has kids. Rachel’s servant has kids. Leah’s servant has kids. Leah has kids.

Finally, after many, many years, Rachel finally is able to give birth to a son.

I wonder what would have happened if Rachel had turned to God with her season of wait instead of taking matters into her own hands. I wonder if God would have blessed her with a child sooner.

We’ll never know.

Either way, God’s will was fulfilled in this story, because as a result of the women’s epic battle for children, Jacob ends up with twelve sons. And these twelve sons eventually have kids, and they become the twelve tribes of Israel.

Case Study: Hannah {1 Samuel 1}

Once upon a time, there were two women named Hannah and Peninnah. And like Rachel and Leah, they were married to the same guy whose name was Elkanah.

Peninnah had lots of kids.

Hannah had none.

Every year, Elkanah would go to this place called Shiloh to make sacrifices to God. He would give part of his sacrifice to Peninnah and all of her sons and daughters. But he gave twice as much to Hannah, because he loved her and because she didn’t have any children.

And so Peninnah did what any human would do in her situation: She began to provoke Hannah grievously to irritate her because Hannah didn’t have any kids.

This broke Hannah’s heart.

Unlike Rachel, Hannah didn’t take matters into her own hands. Instead, she turned to God. 

“[Hannah] was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head’.”

Hannah poured out her heart to God. She trusted Him with her season of wait.

Later on, it tells us that God remembers Hannah’s desperate prayer. She became pregnant and bore a son, named him Samuel, gave him to the Lord’s service, and he became one of the most influential leaders of the nation of Israel.

All because his mother was wise enough to turn to God in her season of waiting. 

What do we do when we are faced with a season of waiting?

Do we take things into our own hands?

Or do we cry out to God?

I’m not saying that God is some magic genie in the sky who withholds good things from us until we turn to Him to ask for them. God’s not like that.

But here’s the thing, if we’re waiting for something or someone to come and make our lives better, we will always be waiting. 

A boyfriend won’t satisfy us.

A husband won’t satisfy us.

A baby won’t satisfy us.

A new job won’t satisfy us.

Only Jesus Christ can satisfy us. 

{You might also like: The Secret to Being Content}

If we're waiting for something or someone to come and make our lives better, we will always be waiting. (1)

I’d like to introduce you to someone named Paul.

Paul knew what it was like to wait.

He himself once said in his letter to the Philippians, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” 

And then Paul lists off various situations he has been in: lows and highs, plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

What comes next is key: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Did you catch that? Paul can be content because Christ strengthens him. {Phil. 11-13 ESV}

Hannah knew that.

She wasn’t looking for her fulfillment in her unborn child. If she was, she wouldn’t have willingly given her child up to the priest to raise so he could enter God’s service.

Hannah knew that true contentment can only come from God.

So while we are in a season of wait, let’s be women like Hannah.

Let’s turn to God and cry out to Him during this season. Let’s grow closer to Him because He is the only One who can ever truly satisfy us.

May we learn to find our hope and contentment in the loving kindness of our Savior. Because we can only be satisfied 100% with Him.


This blog post is an adaptation of a chapter from my eBook, Single Conversations, available now on Amazon Kindle. Find out more.

3 thoughts on “How to Endure a Season of Waiting

  1. Mikaela

    This post was just what I needed to read today! Thanks for encouraging and challenging me!

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