A Prayer about Waiting at Christmas

by Elizabeth | Dec 15, 2022 | Advent, Christmas, Christmas, Daily Prayer, Seasons & Holidays, Suffering

A Prayer about Waiting at Christmas

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Coming Savior,

In this season of “advent,”

as we remember your first coming,

we anticipate many things,

some eagerly, some anxiously.

Some of us are waiting eagerly for family members to arrive

or to give a special surprise we have long planned

or to sing Silent Night at the Christmas Eve service.

All of those are sweet things to look forward to.

Others of us are quite literally in waiting rooms

as a loved one undergoes surgery

or in waiting seasons wondering when we will get a new job

or weeping as we continue to mourn a lost loved one

and wondering when the pain will pass.

Whether we are anticipating the many joys of this season

or weeping as we wait for renewed hope,

may we never forget that we are waiting for you to come again.

May we be strong in your strength,

may we take heart in your consolation,

knowing that you are “coming soon,”

and that when you come,

you will bring the perfect peace and joy

this season is really all about.

We will know intimacy with you and with others

as we have never known before.

We will know the rest of never struggling with sin again.

We will know the joy of serving you

in the best work you’ve designed us for—

to multiply your glory forever and ever.

Today, we will focus our hearts

and our hopes on the horizon,

looking for your next appearing.

In your en-couraging name we pray. Amen.

Read Psalm 27; Revelation 21 and 22.

Get Elizabeth’s Advent devotional for free here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/34no8c805q.

When next steps fail…

by Elizabeth | Jul 20, 2011 | Learning Story

¹³ I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14

Yesterday, we looked at how Abram moved on according to God’s call, not knowing where he was going, but believing God was calling him to something great.

We can sing the happy song, “Just put one foot in front of the other,” but what happens when you trip when you do that? That very thing happened to me today as I was taking a gentle, recovery stroll on our street. I saw my foot turning in the black Nike I had declared months ago to be unstable. Everything happened faster than a Curad commercial after that (sorry if you don’t know the allusion:), and I remember screaming, “NOOOOOO!” as my face was inches from the pavement and I felt the blow hitting my non-operative shoulder. Thank the God who catches us when we fall, I did not damage the repair of my rotator cuff. Thank that very same God who, it seems, protected my right shoulder from also experiencing a tear. I’m not good but I’m all right and I’ll probably be ‘good’ in a few days.

Even before the fall I was thinking about the whole faith journey and my left shoulder. Picturing an Excel spreadsheet in which I lay out in columns the good things and bad things in my life right now. Realizing again that hope in earthly realities fails one way or the other every time. Laughing at the humor of it all — who am I to judge God on how He’s doing as the sovereign Lord of my life?

Sometimes when we move forward, we fall down. But I am caught. I don’t understand, but I do believe. He has caught me up in the story of his faithfulness. I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I already have.