Don’t Waste the Wait!

When you’re waiting on an answered prayer, waiting on healing, waiting on clarity, waiting on restoration, waiting on God to open a door, it can feel like life is standing still.

And if we’re not careful, we can become discouraged, distracted, or even defeated in the waiting.

So today I want to give you some practical things to do while you wait.

Not so you can control the outcome…

But so you can remain steady while God works.

Transcript

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Good morning and welcome back to Coffee Talk. This is your host, Candace, and today we will continue talking about waiting. On last week, we talked about how none of us really like to wait, and we discussed kind of a breakdown of three ways many people wait. And we have the passive waiting, those are the people who gave up. We have the frustrated waiting, those are the people who became angry with God and upset that he just wasn't moving on their behalf. And then we had the wise person, the person that prepared. They prayed and they prepared as if that thing was coming. But today I want to talk to you about what to do while you wait. Because one of the hardest parts of waiting on God is not always the waiting itself. It's not knowing what to do while you're in it. When you're waiting on an answer prayer, waiting on healing, waiting on clarity, waiting on restoration, waiting on God to open a door, it can still feel like life is standing still. And if we're not careful, we can become discouraged, distracted, or even defeated in the waiting. So today I want to give you some practical things to do while you wait. Not so you can control the outcome, but so you can remain steady while God works. Praying without stopping. This is the first thing you do while you wait. It's pray. And I don't mean just mention it one time and never bring it back up. I mean stay in conversation with God about this thing. Tell him how you feel. Tell him what you're struggling with. Tell him where your faith is weak. Tell him where you need help. Waiting seasons are not the time to go silent. They are the time to stay connected because prayer does not only change things around you, it changes what is happening to you. One of the things that I have been praying here lately has been, Lord, I do believe, but help my unbelief. I'm human. So while I may pray for things and I'm in certain waiting seasons about things, when you feel like your prayers have gone unheard or unanswered, there is a sense of unbelief that comes over you. And so I want you all, even if you're in that season, just stay connected. And even if you gotta, you know, like I said, I tell God, I'm like, Lord, I believe. Just help the part of me that doesn't believe, because I don't want any part of my faith to hinder what God wants to do for me next. Number two, I need you guys to prepare rather for what you've asked for. The second thing you do while you wait is prepare. This is where many of us miss it. We say we want the blessing, we say we want the opportunity, we say we want the answer prayer, but are we ready for it? If God answered some of our prayers today, would we be prepared to handle handle them well? So while you wait, you also need to prepare. If you're praying for healing, prepare to live differently. And this could be changing up your physical habits. If you don't exercise, start exercising. If you don't eat right, start eating right. If you smoke, you know, stop smoking. If you drink excessively or whether it is whatever it is, you stop those things to prepare for the healing that you're asking God for. If you're praying for a relationship, prepare your heart. Ask God to show you those things that maybe in the past have messed up relationships that you carry and ask him to start to help you to figure those things out so that your heart and your spiritually and emotionally, you will be ready for that relationship you're praying for. If you're praying for a new opportunity, start sharpening your skills. Don't just sit and wait until you get that opportunity to say, okay, now is the time for me to learn new things. No, you start learning the stuff, the information now so that when you receive this opportunity, you'll be well up, you know, above where they even needed you to be. If you're praying for a financial increase, learn how to manage what you already have. Preparation is a sign of faith. Number three, the third thing you do while you wait is stay consistent. This is hard because most of us like progress we can see. We like signs, we like movements, we like confirmation. But some of the most important seasons in our life will feel real quiet. That does not mean God is absent. It means you need discipline. So keep praying, keep showing up, keep doing what God told you to do. Don't let inconsistency sabotage what fate started. And I look at it this way. It's kind of like when you're kind of when you're trying to get in shape and you start eating right and you go to the gym and you do two workouts and you look in the mirror and you're like, I don't, I don't see it yet. Yeah, you're probably not gonna see it after one salad and one push-up and 30 minutes on a treadmill. You gotta put in the work to actually see that thing come to pass. The fourth thing you need to do while you wait is to protect your mind because waiting can mess with your thoughts if you allow it to. This is where doubt creeps in. Comparison creeps in, fear creeps in. You start looking around and wondering why it's happening for everybody else, but not for you. You start talking yourself out of what God said. You start rehearsing disappointment before anything ever happens. So while you wait, guard your mind. Be careful what you feed your spirit, be careful what voices you entertain, be careful what you keep replaying in your head. Not every thought deserves your agreement. And I will say to that, like, I have taught I laugh at myself a lot because not in a judgmental type of way. But sometimes we look at people and we know like their situation and you just be like, Lori, look, like they always ahead, like I'm trying to do right. Like, why am I always feeling like I'm at the bottom? And that's some of those voices you need to kill because they will have your mind so entangled about what everybody else has going on, to the fact that you stop focusing on what God needs you to focus on to get things that you're needing from him. So guard your mind hunting while you wait. The fifth thing you do while you wait is stop forcing. If you have to manipulate it, chase it, force it, beg for it, or keep trying to make it happen in your own strength, you need to pause. Because what God has for you does not need flesh to hold it together. Now, yes, there is effort. Again, we need faith. Faith without works is dead. And yes, there is obedience. Yes, there is movement when he says move, but there is a difference between obedience and striving. And many of us are tired because we're striving in places where we should be surrendering. I'm gonna repeat that. Many of you are tired because you are striving in places where you should be surrendering. Let that sit with you. And that's just meaning there have been opportunities where I felt like it was for me. So I go out and try to open the door that God never meant to be open, where I tried to close the door to a situation that He wanted to stay open. And so I a lot of times I like to say I find myself just existing and not living because those are situations I created. So definitely reevaluate certain situations right now that you've been praying for. If it ain't, I say when God lines things up for you, it's often like a domino effect. He didn't give you the A, B, C, D, E, F G. Like he done laid this thing out. Literally, it's no effort on your part. But you'll know when you're doing something outside of the will of God for your life or the plan of God for your life because it's like you are having to kick down every single door that you need to walk through. So if that's where you are, stop forcing what God has not released yet, okay? Number six, the thing you do while you wait is let the season grow you up. Waiting reveals things, it reveals your fears, it reveals your idols, it reveals your wounds, it reveals how much you really trust God. And instead of wasting the waiting by complaining through it, ask God, what are you trying to develop in me here? What are you trying to show me here? What needs to be healed in me here? Because sometimes the wait is not just about getting to the promise, sometimes it's about becoming the person who can carry it. I heard a young lady on TikTok say that God would not release something she had been praying for because if he released it in that season, she would have been a person who couldn't handle what she had been praying for. So in this waiting season, definitely ask God to strengthen the person you're supposed to be for the thing he's preparing for you. Our last point, the seventh point, is keep living. Very simple. Keep living. Some people put their whole life on pause because one prayer has not been answered yet. No, that is not God's way. Keep living, keep loving, keep serving, keep laughing, keep growing. Waiting does not mean your life is over until God does that one specific thing. There is still life in this season. There is still purpose in this season, there is still goodness in this season. Don't miss what God is doing now because you are only focused on what He has not done yet. Yet. So, what do you do while you wait? Pray, prepare, stay consistent, guard your mind, stop forcing it, let the season mature you, and you keep living. Waiting is not easy, but waiting with intention changes everything. Because the goal is not just to survive the wait, the goal is to come out of it stronger, wiser, and more ready than you were when it started. So if you're in your waiting season today, I want to encourage you, do not waste time in this season. God is not ignoring you. God is not punishing you. God is not absent. He is working. And while he works, you work too. Not in fear, not in panic, not in control, but in faith. Allow me to pray for you. Father God, I pray for every person listening to this episode. For the one who is tired in the waiting, strengthen them. For the one who is discouraged in the waiting, encourage them. For the one who is confused in the waiting, give them clarity. For the one who is tempted to give up, renew their faith. Teach us how to wait well. Teach us how to stay connected to you. Teach us how to prepare, trust, and remain steady in every season. Let us not waste this waiting season, but let it produce something beautiful in us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for spending these 10 minutes with me today. If this conversation encouraged you, share Coffee Talk with another person who might need to hear it too. Until next time, keep walking in faith, keep growing, and remember you're not alone on this journey. Be blessed.