Waiting is hard.
It’s who I become when staring at a long red light.
It’s who I turn into when the elevator takes forever to get to my floor.
It’s who I am when everyone else’s order in the restaurant comes before mine.
It’s who I am when I have to wait.
Yet, waiting doesn’t turn us into anything—it reveals who we already are. My frustration at the red light, the elevator, or the restaurant isn’t caused by those moments—it’s my heart on display.
Waiting strips away my usual distractions, revealing what’s hidden underneath. Only a good God would orchestrate circumstances that lovingly expose a heart struggling to trust Him fully during these seasons.
For me, nothing compared to how diagnosed infertility tested my patience and faith. I reflect on Hannah—not just because of the shared sorrow of being childless, but because of her persistence and unwavering trust as she waited.
“So it went on year by year. Peninnah would taunt Hannah as they went to the Tabernacle. Each time, Hannah would be reduced to tears and would not even eat” (1 Samuel 1:7).
Year by year.
Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife, taunted her mercilessly. Yet, as often as she endured this taunting, Hannah returned to the house of the Lord to pour out her heart. She kept going back to the place of her “no,” persistently asking and seeking, year after year.
What great faith. What great waiting.
Anyone no longer expecting anything would have stopped asking, but Hannah’s persistence revealed her trust that God could do the impossible. I didn’t know, three years after my initial infertility diagnosis, that I would hold my miracle baby. I also didn’t know that God was using that diagnosis, that waiting, to sanctify me.
On the other side of my waiting, I found character, good fruit, a prayer warrior, and a surrendered life. Waiting didn’t turn me into anything—it revealed who I already was.
What is waiting revealing in your life today? Like Hannah, are you bringing your longings to the Lord, year by year? God uses waiting not to punish us, but to refine us. In the stillness, He’s working. In the delay, He’s transforming.
Trust Him with your waiting—He is faithful.
For deeper reflection, listen to I Samuel 1 today.
- 1 Samuel 1
Be encouraged by our conversation with Janay today about having hope while you wait!
