What To Do When God Says "Wait"

What do we do when God's call for us is to "wait."  How do we listen?  And, why?  What's truly important about heeding God's call?

In this episode of Welcoming God, I talk about this and share a funny story about ice cream that led to an important realization about accepting when "not much is going on" in my life as a source of peace instead of boredom and an attempt to escape from loneliness.  

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• 0:00 Tempo: 120.0

Transcript

Tempo: 120.0

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Hey everyone, Sarah here. Just to let you know, sometimes I do use swear words in these episodes, and we may at times discuss adult content. In case you happen to be listening around little ones or people that won't appreciate that. Thanks so much for listening, and let's get right into it. Hi, and thanks for joining me on Welcoming God. Thank you for joining me. This is Sarah on Welcoming God. And today I'm going to talk a little bit about what it's like to have to wait. And maybe it's not have to wait, but it's choosing to listen to the guidance that I'm receiving, as far as I can discern, from the one true source. That's my intention, of course, to receive the guidance from God, the one true God, the one true source. And what do we do when we're being asked to wait, to not make a move, to not do anything? Even when it seems like we should be doing something or could be doing something. What is it like to wait? And to hear that, first of all, hear that guidance and then to listen and respond to it. I would say for myself, it feels scary, uncomfortable, unsettling. I know I have parts of me that are real go-getters and want to make things happen and do things and create things and cultivate things. And it can feel very empty and still when I am not doing much. And I actually had a really powerful insight about this several years ago. I was at this summer festival, music festival, and I can't remember if I went to lead a class or something like that. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll meet someone to connect with there, and it'll be really fun. And I'll have like this great experience, this great connection. And I remember at the end of the weekend, the last day of the festival, I was obsessing over ice cream. I was like, okay, I'm gonna get ice cream today. I'm gonna get ice cream. And I mean, I literally was thinking about it like all afternoon. And then when it came time to actually go get ice cream, I went up to the ice cream stand and they were out of most of their flavors that I would have wanted. And I realized that I didn't actually really want ice cream anyway. And I wondered, what was this all about? Like I have been thinking about ice cream all day long. What is the deal? And I realized, you know, I hadn't ended up meeting someone that I had a special connection with. I probably spent most of the weekend by myself, just walking around, hanging out, seeing music, whatever, feeling lonely, like, gosh, where are my people? Even though I know people at these at this festival, I just tend to feel lonely when I'm there by myself. And um I was with good friends that last day of the festival, and we were like looking for food and stuff. And I just had this moment where I realized, oh my God, my this obsession with ice cream has been about creating some kind of excitement to something to get excited about and feel excited about because I hadn't felt that connection with someone that I was looking forward to. And I I just realized I I a part of me was looking for something to make me feel good and make me feel like, ooh, something's happening, something exciting is going on, or something exciting is going to happen later today when I get that ice cream. And I suddenly realized it's okay when not much is going on. And I'm gonna let that land. There's nothing wrong here. And when I think about all of the times that I felt bored or unenthused, and felt like I needed something to be going on, and I created something to be going on, and then I had to pick up the pieces after that thing fell apart or blew up in my face or ended in a way I didn't like. I feel a lot of sadness and grief about those times that I've co-created not good stuff for me. Things I didn't have to co-create with others just because I felt bored or unenthused, or maybe uninspired, or lonely, or like I needed connection. And I did that to myself because I felt like something should be happening, something exciting, something good, something, you know, to get me excited. And this was such a big revelatory experience for me. It's okay when not much is happening. It's okay when nothing's going on. That's okay. And how will I be okay with that? How can I be okay with that? How will I be okay with that? And then I realized when not much is going on, it's actually more peaceful. And I realized that that was something that I was cultivating in my life for a long time. More peace. And it's here for me, as long as I'm willing to allow what's happening to happen, even when there's not much going on, and it doesn't feel exciting, or it doesn't I feel bored, or I feel unenthused or uninspired. So when I'm asked to wait, like I felt the call this past December in 2025, I just felt the call to wait, not try to cultivate more business, not try to make things happen, not try to do stuff. It felt really uncomfortable. And I wondered, am I being responsible here? Like, I mean, I support myself. Like, what if I need more money, you know, in the new year? And like I don't have it because I didn't cultivate more business in December. Or, you know, I just wondered, and I just felt the call to wait. So I'm wondering what you do when you feel that call. What will you do when you hear that call to wait? How do you recognize it? I know for myself it comes through because I just don't feel the energy, the motivation to do stuff. I know in that moment, okay, right now is a time to rest or a time to be still. You know, when I think of December leading up to the darkest day of the year, the winter solstice, which we'll talk about in the next episode, I just think, yeah, you know, that's that's actually natural. That's what nature is asking us to do. And to me, that's God. God is saying, this is the time to slow down. This is the time to be present, more present with me in everything, everywhere. So what's it like to listen and respond when we hear a call to wait? And then how do we uh move out of that once we start feeling the energy pick up again to do stuff and to cultivate and to make things happen or to reach out to um generate to receive? You know, what's it like once we come out of that zone of waiting? How do we know that? How do we feel that? Then where is God the one true source asking us to go? What is God asking us to do next? So these are just some powerful inquiries that you can walk away with. What would it be like to journal about these? Take some time, set a reminder. Okay, I'm gonna journal about what's it like to wait when I feel that call to wait? How do I know when it's time to go again, to move, to make things happen or receive and open up to the next steps? And just inquire within yourself to see what's there for you. Thank you so much for listening to Welcoming God, and I will see you, or you will hear me on the next episode. Thanks so much, and please share this with a friend if you feel inspired. Aloha, Nui Loa, and until we meet again. Hey everyone, Sarah Haeckel here from Welcoming God, a podcast for spiritual seekers. This is a legal disclaimer to say that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy or professional help. I am not a trained therapist. I also have not studied theology in a formal setting. This podcast is purely for educational, inspirational purposes, to share the goodness of welcoming God back into my life and all of the things that I'm learning on this journey. So thank you for joining me here, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks for joining me on another episode of Welcoming God. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen, and consider leaving us a review as it helps more people find and benefit from this show. Music by Song Channel Music. You can listen and hear more at Songchannel Music. Aloha Nui Loa, take care and God bless you.