Restful Anticipation Devotional: Find Contentment in Seasons of WaitingSample

On September 19, 2016, our friend Scott went to the doctor for a headache. Scott’s doctor took his blood pressure and immediately sent him over to the medical center across the street. The medical team wasted no time. They performed a full craniotomy, scooping a massive amount of fluid from Scott’s brain. After Scott came to consciousness, Scott’s surgeon gave him the worst news he’d ever received.

The surgeon said, “Scott, you’ve come through the surgery amazingly. There’s a chance you’ll be okay, but here’s what it’s going to require. For the next eight weeks, you need to do everything in your power to let your brain settle down. This brain bleed and subsequent surgery caused three concussions. So you have to understand that makes three major traumatic events for your brain. You will not read, write, communicate, or use your phone for the next eight weeks. You will not talk or have a conversation. You cannot watch T.V. or listen to music with lyrics. Your brain has to go flat … and if you don’t, you will have permanent brain damage.”

Scott cried himself to sleep, scared that even that might be too much for his brain.

How do I stare at the air for eight weeks? Lord, help me. Please give me a plan. Please, Lord, Give me a plan. Give me your plan. Scott prayed.

As Scott lay there, feeling helpless, God answered his prayer and gave him a plan for the eight weeks. That plan involved resting, waiting, listening, and renewal. On the outside looking in, those eight weeks must have looked unproductive. Scott couldn’t speak, couldn’t write, couldn’t read—no television, no conversations, no browsing on the phone or computer. Absolute stillness for eight weeks.

Scott carried out God’s plan each day, over and over again.

Rest. Wait. Listen. Renew.

Rest. Wait. Listen. Renew.

Day after day, Scott filled his mind only with God’s plan to get him through the eight weeks. Rest. Wait. Listen. Renew. A deeper meaning formed around each word, a real understanding of what it meant to rest in God, to wait for Him, to listen to Him, and to be renewed by Him. Scott’s body grew stronger and stronger each day. His brain slowly healed. He’s a walking miracle.

To this day, Scott starts his morning the same way he filled his time during those eight weeks in the hospital. Rest. Wait. Listen. Renew. Every morning. Scott says, “I didn’t know at the time that what God was teaching me would change me for the rest of my life. To this day, those four-morning practices are the key to any effective day running my business.”

If anyone had an excuse to feel weary, question God, or flat out go crazy during a season of waiting, it’s our friend, Scott. But he leaned into God’s direction to rest, and it changed his life forever.

John Ortberg says, “Biblically, waiting is not just something we have to do until we get what we want. Waiting is part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.”

Prayer:

Father, you are gentle and humble in heart, and you invite me to come to you when I’m weary and burdened. You lead me to a better way. Make me more like you. Open up my eyes to the beauty in this journey of waiting, help me to draw closer to you, and to become more patient. Help me to learn how to rest, wait, listen, and renew. Amen.