It's not your past experience. It's not your knowledge, nor perseverance. It is your faith that will heal you.

There was a lame man who had waited for 38 years by the well of Bethesda to get his leg healed so he can walk again. Having no one to take him to the pool, time after time, others always went in ahead of him as he just sat by. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to get well?” And he said,“Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Then Jesus said to him, 'Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.'

Healing is right in front of you but you may miss it. You may miss the thing you thought that can heal you.

Jesus was going to be his healer. It takes trusting in Jesus that He will do what He said He will. Faith is in the unseen and by sight—We take responsiblity that if we want to get healed, we have to be determined and fight for it. We have to claim it and take as if what had been promised had been given to us because God is a good God. It takes faith to get into the Promised Land.

My Waiting Journey

I did not have the faith that God has something better for my future—-in the areas of relationship. I was tired of waiting. And I was disappointed, “God, I did everything for you, don’t I deserve that you answer this part of my life?” I did not know how to wait with joy and expectantly anymore. I shared this to a sister in Christ over breakfast. Coming from a similar brokenness during our upbringing, she said, “Tamara, God leaves you with a choice. it's a choice of whether you want to settle for what you’ve seen in your past or will you be determined to get out of the cycle and believe that God needs you to be where you are right now—-until you are ready and the situation is ready. He has a beautiful future for you, but you need to stop looking back.”

One thing I know to be true and stuck on me was: God rewards faithfulness. He sees what you sow in prayer.

Remember Lot's wife? God told her not to look back; but she did and became a pillar of salt. I was like Lot’s wife— I did not trust God for a brighter future and wanted to hold on to what I know to be familiar in the past. God needed to teach me to wait with joy & expectantly. And this was what he taught me.

Are you Waiting Well?

Waiting is a muscle that had to be practiced daily. It is waking up everyday and choosing to trust in God’s word, timing & His way. You can abhor, complain or be miserable in the waiting season or you can learn to practice gratitude, your character (patience, self-control) and prepare yourself for what’s ahead. When we pray, rather than we make demands for God to do good because you’ve done him good, He wants a contrite heart who prays, “God, I do not deserve any good thing and apart from you there is no good thing in me. Give me faith to see what I cannot yet see and give me grace to live today in your will in what you have revealed to me.”

A time of preparation

During this season, He needed to prepare you for the calling or the Promised land. If He is the one who give you that dream, only He can bring it to pass. Or else, you will get tired & give up.

Faith doesn't just wait, but it prepares. It's not just a wish, but an evidence of the things you hope for. It's an act of declaration, "God I dont see it but rain me for what I am praying for. Use me. I want to actively learn from this.”

Before He brings you to your spouse, He will work on your trust issues and wholeness in God first

Before He brings you to your higher place of ministry, He will mature your character and train your humility

Before He answers your prayers, He will teach you to want Him more than His miracles

While you wait

1. Prepare for what you’re praying for

2. If you dont’ have enough faith, lean on the faith of your friends (Mark 2:1-12)

3. Pray continuously that you will be found faithful

4. Fight with gratitude

5. Do not be weary of doing good, for in due time you will reap a harvest

If we don’t wait well

Abraham and Sarah who in their old age had a hard time believing God to give them a child, stopped praying and started doing things on what seemed good to their own understanding. Sarah ordered Hagar to sleep with his husband for a child. Look at how that created much pain and trouble ahead. If only they had been patient in the waiting..

It is rebelion and dishonoring to God if we settle for less and try to make His plan happen in our own way and time. A present given prematurely, we will not learn to appreciate. God is never late nor too early. He does not need our help to bring about His miracle.

If we do not wait well and not learn from our mistakes, God can skip a generation. It can be that we never enter the Promised Land, stuck longer in the wilderness like Moses never did, because God too knows that the Promised Land is for those who really want to be there with God & if the people are not ready, the gift will crush them more than it will bless them.

May we learn like Mary did when the Angel visited her telling her she will bore the Messiah, "Lord, let it be unto me according to your Word (Luke 1:38)”

“Dear God, help me to make this season of my life one of the best season. You know the desires of my heart that I still long for. Help me to still wait in joy and expectantly that you can bring that blessing in an instant, but you are waiting for me to be ready. So teach me in this opportunity to bloom. May I know more of who I am and who you are. Teach me Lord to be godly and when the right time comes, that it will be a testimony for all to see that you are the only One who can bring things together beautifully.”

It is your faith that can make you well.

x,

T.W.