Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

After living with us for over a year, I helped my granddaughter Emma Kate and her family move into their brand-new home.

“Lolli,” she said as she surveyed the brown dirt surrounding their home. “Grass is going to grow and then we are getting a swimming pool.”

“That will be wonderful!”

“Yes,” said the 4-year-old. “It’s going to be so nice.”

I relayed the conversation to Elise who has absolutely, positively, no intention of getting a pool. I don’t even think she wants grass.

A few days later Emma Kate told Elise, “Our pool is taking a really long time.”

I hope her patience exceeds mine.

Waiting is a challenge for me, even with the encouragement of Isaiah 40:31, “But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

The Hebrew word for wait, qavah, figuratively means to hope, expect and anticipate. Its literal meaning is to bind together and twist like a rope.

To make a rope, many thin threads are twisted together. The more threads that are twisted, the stronger the rope becomes. When pressure is applied, rather than pulling the rope apart, the strands come closer together and bear the weight.

The length of time between praying a prayer and receiving an answer may vary, and what we do in the interim is important.  As we wait upon the Lord with hope and expectation, we are renewed in His strength. No longer are we like thin strings that snap under pressure, but part of a strong cord. The stress of problems won’t pull us apart from God, but closer to Him.

I know prayer changes things, and I believe when we learn to patiently wait on Him, prayer changes us.

 

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.