When I turned 16, my parents let me have my mom’s car - a
1996 Gold Chevy Caprice. I couldn’t find
a digital picture of my actual car, but I have included an internet
look-a-like. It was a tank and nicknamed
“Bertha” by my college friends.
Because it looked like an unmarked police car, people would
slam on breaks whenever I approached them in traffic. The windows would often stick if I rolled
them down, and it took a unique pull, roll, pull method to get them back in
place. Sometimes the steering wheel
would also stick while driving – and usually when trying to turn onto a side
road or into oncoming traffic causing me to have to break, sit, and hope it
would correct itself, so I didn’t end up in a ditch. The break/sit move also prevented me from
pulling into traffic when ANYONE was coming because who knew if my steering
wheel would have the stamina it took to make the complete turn without
stalling. It is a good thing I lived in
the country, and traffic was rare.
In college, the air conditioner and heat both broke. Ironically, they each decided to break when I
had a four hour drive home from school.
The heat broke in a hail/snow storm, and the AC died when it was
seriously 100 degrees, and there was a wreck on Hwy 95, so the four hour drive
ended up being a five hour drive. The
next time I drove four hours without air conditioning, I wore my bathing suit
top and shorts which I thought would be better, but quickly discovered that
sweating on leather seats in a bathing suit is as miserable as sweating in all
my clothes.
I drove that car for three years before my dad finally
decided that enough had gone wrong with it that I could have a new one. When I turned 19, my parents bought me a 2003
Toyota Camry. I can still vividly
remember driving home from some errands with my mom and seeing that car in the
driveway. I was ecstatic! I still have the Camry, and I still
completely love it. I have also never
taken for granted how well it runs or the feeling I get from being able to walk
to a car and not be embarrassed to get into it.
But, had I not spent three years with Big Bertha, I don’t think I would
appreciate my cute car as much.
This week, I was listening to a sermon online and the pastor
was speaking about a text in Habakkuk that I have long memorized. It is Habakkuk 2:3 which says, “For the revelation
awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will not delay.” The text is actually talking about the
upcoming invasion of the Babylonian empire in Jerusalem, but the overall
context is that God is ultimately in control and that his plans will
prevail. The pastor went on to talk about
why waiting is necessary or good – why God doesn’t always answer our prayers
right away. He threw out several possibilities
for why we must wait for our prayers to be answered, but one comment he made
was that when praying for a desire, we appreciate it more when it comes if we’ve
had to wait for it.
Immediately, I thought about that car. I know it is a petty example, and I know I
was super blessed to even have a car and especially have a car that I didn’t
have to buy myself, but truly, I am still so thankful for my Camry even though
it has been ten years since I drove the Caprice. If I can feel that way about a car, imagine
the thankfulness I will feel for God’s blessings that have required years of
waiting and praying. My husband is one
of those blessings. I know according to
society, we are not a couple who got married “later in life,” but we definitely
got married later than I had wanted.
And, even after we met each other, our dating experience lasted longer
than I would have liked. But, I can look
back at pages and pages of prayer journals where I prayed for a husband and
then where I prayed specifically for Andy, and I can see how faithful God was
through all of it – how he heard every prayer and saw every need and how he was
refining me and my relationship with him through that prayer process.
Yesterday, I talked to a friend who is pregnant. It took her and her husband longer to
conceive than they ever dreamed it would take.
She knows what it is like to wait for a blessing, and as we talked about
her pregnancy and future baby, I could hear care and concern and love for her
child that is not in the voice of every mother-to-be I know. I can’t help but think my friend and her
husband will cherish their sweet baby a little bit more because they know that
God answered desperate prayers to bring about his existence.
The idea of waiting for God’s timing reminds me of Romans
5:3-5 which says, “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has
been given to us.” Beside that verse in
my Bible, I have the note, “God is more concerned with our eternal character
than our present comfort.” Don’t give me
credit for the thought – I’m sure it came from a sermon I heard somewhere, but
it is so true, is it not? God, in his
great love, is concerned with making us people of superior character. In our hearts, he wants to create
thankfulness and an ability to glorify him and his plan regardless of the
situation. Believe me, I am preaching to
myself, here, but I think I’m beginning to realize that the waiting is not
something to “get through” in order to have the blessing. It is the time where God refines our
character and our trust in him so that we are prepared to cherish the gift when
it is given and so that we have developed traits like the ability to persevere
and have hope in suffering which will allow us to endure our future trials and comfort
others in their trials. The waiting is the blessing.
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