Hope for When You’re Waiting on God

Three years ago, I began praying hard for something. I knew what I was praying for was within God’s will, it was just a matter of when. And so for months, I prayed hard and chased after every open door.

At times, I could sense His telling me to wait and so I’d pray for contentment and peace. I’d try to discern the lessons God had for me in that time.

But as months turned into years, I began to lose hope.

I began to question where I was, what I was doing and if what I was praying for really was a part of God’s will or not.

Satan began to work his way into my thoughts causing me to question God and to lose hope.

Is there something in your life that you’ve been waiting for so long that you’re ready to give up hope?

I want to encourage you today to hold on.

And I want to share some of the most powerful things that helped me to stay encouraged when God asked me to wait.

Just Keep Praying

I say this with Dory’s “just keep swimming” tune in mind. No matter how you are feeling and what thoughts are going through your head, it is so important to just keep praying.

Satan will try and convince you of so many things to get you to stop praying. He will try to make you believe that God’s not listening, that prayer is useless and so much more.

One thing that helped me tremendously in continuing in fervent prayer was to begin a prayer journal.

In this prayer journal, I wrote down prayers asking for my hearts desires, surrendering my heart and my day and asking for God’s strength and peace. And when I felt it was impossible to pray, I’d flip open the journal and say a prayer anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, so often it felt forced and felt as though my heart weren’t in it. But it was a reminder to my own heart and to Satan that I was still standing strong in prayer, no matter what.

Do what you can to continue to be committed to prayer. This will carry you through a time of waiting with peace and hope.

Proclaim God’s Promises

One of the most powerful and yet most difficult things for me to do during times of discouragement is to proclaim God’s promises aloud.

Sometimes I feel like my mouth is glued shut when I go to do this. It takes a tremendous amount of strength to proclaim God’s promises aloud when I’m feeling discouraged and hopeless.

But in speaking His promises out loud, there is so much power.

Sometimes, I have to simply start with saying the name, Jesus over and over again. And as I do, I’m reminding Satan that Jesus is Lord. I’m reminding myself that Jesus is in control.

And when I speak His promises aloud, I am proclaiming their power over my life and my situation.

Find promises that will encourage you through your time of waiting and write them down and say them aloud daily.

This will bring you powerful hope and powerful peace when you are struggling.

Meditate on Scripture

Sometimes when I was desperately longing for an answered prayer, I’d find myself daydreaming about what it would be like when that prayer was answered. I’d dwell in the possibility and the joy of that answered prayer.

And then I’d have to come back to the disappointing reality that God had not yet answered my prayer.

This cycle was futile and would constantly lead me to frustration and hopelessness.

One of the most game-changing ways that I found hope in this time was to begin to memorize Scriptures that would encourage me during this time and to repeat them in my mind during times that I’d be tempted to envision what could be.

It’s hard to sacrifice those happy thoughts, but it became a discipline for me. One of the most important times for me was right before bed when my mind had plenty of time to wander.

It used to be the most discouraging time for me, my mind would wander through all the things that I desired, that I wanted for my life and then I'd be so discouraged and disappointed when I realized how desperately I wanted it. 

Training your mind to reflect on, meditate on and wander to Scripture is a powerful way to find encouragement during a time of waiting.

Waiting on God can be hard, but there are several ways to find hope and encouragement. Stay committed to fervent prayer, proclaim God's promises aloud and train your mind to meditate on Scripture constantly. When you do these things you will find hope and peace even in the waiting.