Waiting in Patience: God is at Work
Fayelle Ewuakye
“Patience is an extremely difficult discipline precisely because it counteracts our unreflective impulse to flee or to fight.” (Nouwen, McNeill, and Morrison, Compassion, 93)
Halfway through Lent… how do we feel? Are we weary and confused? Frustrated and impatient? I have long wrestled with patience. I want things right now. I want unpleasantness to pass right now. I want broken things fixed right now. I want conflicts solved right now. I want comfort and peace. And I want it right now.
Halfway through Lent… how are we waiting? Are we trusting God’s work?
What I’m trying to remember is how patience can be defined during this time: to voluntarily stay in and embrace the place of not knowing how or who or when or what or why. But instead, remembering who God is, reflecting on what He’s done in the past, and trusting that He is at work now. And when I can, being part of that work.
I’m thinking of the Israelites waiting for a conqueror, a king.
God was at work.
I’m thinking of Moses and his people waiting for the Promised Land while wandering for 40 years.
God was at work.
I’m thinking of the disciples waiting to learn their own fate after Jesus breathed His last on the Cross.
God was at work.
I am waiting for governments to put the health and well-being of the people in their land before their own interests.
God is at work.
I am waiting for holistic peace and thriving to exist for every person in Palestine and Israel.
God is at work.
I am waiting for Easter when I can celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, and be reminded that He is that conqueror, that king, that loving Shepherd who cares for every soul.
God is at work.
“In the waiting
The same God who’s never late
Is working all things out.”
– Yes I Will by Vertical Worship
Jehovah Shammah, You are the Lord who is THERE. You are watching, You are in the details, You are working. Help us to remember You’re always right on time and yet keep us yearning for more of You as our hearts cry out with longing. Open our eyes to what we can do while we wait, how we can be part of Your work. Amen.
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Fayelle Ewuakye is CMEP’s Communications Coordinator and earned her B.A. in Humanities at Jacksonville State University, in Jacksonville, Alabama with a concentration in Anthropology and Geography. She’s been the Social Media Curator for her local church in Northwest Georgia since 2018 and finds the gifts and benefits of social media to be great blessings toward any organization wishing to reach out to the masses. She wants to be a part of some meaningful work, both locally and globally, and believes peace and justice are two things the public at large needs to know more about.