I fell victim to an ad on Instagram. Deep sigh. I know. I purchased some foundation. The shade did not match. I sought instruction on returning the item, however I attempted to do so out of the window of opportunity so to speak. Unbeknownst to me, the foundation was a huge cost, and coming up at the end of a six week pay period drought in the account that I rarely use, the transaction did not clear. Atop that, my bank slapped a nsf fee on the purchase. After I got in contact with the makeup company, they immediately issued a refund. As such, it was my responsibility to contact my bank to request the same. I was on hold for 10 minutes before I left the house to travel to the cleaners and then to physical therapy. By the time I reached the cleaners, after listening to hideous “wait” music for 30 minutes, a representative answered. As I explained to her the issue while walking to the door of the cleaners, I noticed a sign posted. It read, “Back in 10 minutes.” Truly I screamed on the inside. Here I thought the wait on the phone was long enough, but here I stood in front of a door with a ten-minute wait, minus the start time. Ten minutes from when? I returned to my car, finished the transaction with the bank and waited. I determined I had about 7-10 minutes before I needed to leave for physical therapy. Push comes to shove, I could always return to the cleaners. I began thinking, how long is the wait on God?

If you are assuming that I have the answer, you may as well close this up and move on. If you are like me, attempting to make sense of this phenomenon, stay and perhaps we may reason together. When I felt at what I though was my breaking point, a gentle person inside the cleaners appeared out of seemingly nowhere and unlocked the door. Isn’t that just how God works? We wait in great anticipation for what feels like eternity for Him to show up. Then suddenly He does what we were unable to do, manipulate, maneuverer or master. I’m assuming that when God presents something on repeat to me, it is a concept that I must assume. Everything is not sent by God, but to be sure, everything is allowed by God.

Throughout last week, I said Yes quite a bit to God to opportunities that were not of my own choosing. It did not make the enemy happy. As I sit in our home with the repairpersons attempting to determine why our heat isn’t working, I am able to be objective enough to realize the seamless thread running through the series of events I’ve been confronted with over the last 7 days and that is to wait on the Lord. In agreement, Psalm 27:14 rings out, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” The strengthening belongs to God and not we ourselves, but I must remind myself to be in a posture for the strengthening.

As likened to the sign, God will be back in 10 minutes, but much to our dismay, we  – don’t know the start from the beginning. We can also expect some really horrible musical to be playing alongside the wait of God. I would be remiss if I said I enjoyed it. This is the part of faith that I’d rather skip. In essence, we don’t know the timing of the ending – but the preparation we do in the smaller moments prepare us for the larger wait times with the larger weights. This week has conjured more tears than usual. And when they’ve emerged, I’ve allowed them to have their way. I know in my heart and in simply my knowing in general that God will be back in 10 minutes. Although it might be nice to know the span of time, I remain in expectation for every door He has orchestrated to be opened. Sometimes the “door” that He provides isn’t your own, but instead He grants you access. At “press time” this blog is being finished at a friend’s. Our heat is still in repair mode. Just like me.