Waiting on God

My small group of mom-friends met to discuss Chapter 3.  The chapter has the same title as this post.  It was an excellent lesson and discussion!  I always learn so much while leading this group......and I love how the Lord points us to the Scriptures that He wants to impress on our hearts and get into our minds and daily lives.

Please feel free to join in on our discussion by leaving comments in the comment section.  I post the summary notes here on this blog so that moms who miss the meeting can "catch up".  Some personal stories might be shared if I deem them important or a "testimony" with permission from that friend.  For the most part, this is a summary of the chapter and discussion.  

Chapter 3 started out by acknowledging how busy today's families are!  Isn't that the truth, here in the USA?  We are BUSY...add to the family life, a career, (or ministries/housework if you are at home full time), ministry or leadership roles in the church, PTA, children's extracurriculars, time with the spouse, time as a family, housework, errands, and scheduling "me time" plus spending time with our Savior.....and wow.....we are BUSY as moms.  So....HOW do we find time to "wait on God?"  and what does it mean??

We first discussed that waiting on God is not necessarily praying.  They are not the same thing.  We read Psalm 62:1 which states

"Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation."

The literal translation for this is "truly my soul is silent upon God". 

The lesson centered around the story of Elisabeth and Zechariah as found in Luke 1:5-25.  We learn that Zechariah is a godly man....in fact he is a priest! He is righteous, childless, and older.  Elisabeth is his wife and she is older, righteous and barren.  This was a difficult thing back then.....women married young and were expected to bear many children.  

We discussed the fact that Zechariah going into the temple to burn incense was "random" (a lot was cast according to the Scripture).  BUT...this was God setting things in motion.  We then tied Proverbs 16:9 to this which states:

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

A few of us then shared personal stories about when God worked through circumstances in our lives or our childrens' lives that seemed as random as casting lots.  I shared about how Claire, when we were first at our church and she was only 6, had no friends there yet. We took her to the Easter Egg Hunt the church was hosting and she entered a raffle for a very big Easter basket. She at first didn't want to go, because we didn't know anyone yet.  (we had only been at this church for a few months and she wasn't yet involved in SS or Awana).  She won the raffle and in so doing, some girls turned around to congratulate her.  One of those girls was a little girl who had been in her preschool class 2 years prior....we hadn't seen her since both girls started kindergarten as we live in different school districts and at the end of preschool we were attending different churches. It seemed like a random thing but...it was God setting things up for Claire to feel included and to reconnect with a friend. She now sees this friend at youth group, and although they are not best buds, and have a different circle of friends, they are still united in Christ and there will always be that connection!  God is good!!

We then discussed question 4 which asked why we are often afraid when God does something unusual?? (based on verse 12 about Z being afraid when he first saw the angel).  We determined that it is usually because we feel out of control....we like to be in control of a situation and when God's Hand is in something.......ours are not!

We shared some personal things about what we are hoping and praying for...what we are waiting for as parents of teens.  A couple of us shared about how we are praying for godly spouses for our teens.....and although this is in the future....it is important to be praying for those things now.  It reminded me that I need to wait on God more for this kind of thing.  To pray...and then release it and WAIT!  To quiet my soul.

We briefly talked about John's purpose in life and the fact that he is Jesus' cousin!!

Most the questions in the study were based right from the Scriptures given so the answers were easy to find.  Some answers are totally subjective and based on our own experiences.

We discussed how our individual relationship with God benefits from silence (it gives us an opportunity to hear His Voice and increases our faith).  We also talked about the benefits for our family life (children).  We decided that our children will see God's Plan unfold as we continue to trust Him and wait on Him.  They will see us release burdens, etc. and if we are trusting Him and waiting for Him to direct us, they will learn this and apply it to their own lives as they continue to grow physically and spiritually.

We then discussed that we can be persistent but God will answer in His own way and in His own timing.  Just like He did with Z and E.

I shared that when it comes to parenting teens we may not see the fruit of our labors for a long time....but that HE the Lord God sees the future.  And there is Hope for us in that Waiting!!

Side Note:  halfway through the meeting, i passed out a game called the "Can word game". Each answer to a short phrase had the word "can" in the beginning of the answer.  For example: to gallop gently is "canter" a type of bird is "canary".  You get the idea.

Then the ladies added up their points.  The expected result?? the person with the highest score usually gets the prize, right?

but to make the point about our lesson......that waiting sometimes brings unexpected results, I gave the little prize to the person with the least amount of points!!
(and for those of you who just have to know? the prize was a small lip balm from Avon)  It was fun way to drive home the point of the lesson.

so.....ask your self?

Am I truly waiting on God....am I silent before Him and waiting expectantly??