Waiting
Rikki Permenter, MAMFC, Th. M.
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Psalms 130:5-6
My husband and I planted our garden on Good Friday. This is the first year we have ever planted a garden in our yard. Usually, our house serves as a kind of hospice for plants - it is the place they come to die. We’ve killed succulents, air plants, and cactuses. We’ve killed the kind of plants that florists will say are self-sufficient - maybe we heard it as a challenge. This year has been different. In the past few weeks, we have planted, waited, and seen things grow.
If you’ve ever done something in faith and had to wait for the results then you know where I’m going here. We planted the seeds, used fancy fertilizer, watered, and made sure they got sun. We woke up each morning and walked out to inspect and see if anything sprouted. Weeks went by and it seemed like nothing was happening. From the surface, it looked like we failed again. In life sometimes we find ourselves waiting for the Lord to do something. We do our part and we leave it to him but each morning we wake up and look to see if anything has happened and we see no change.
A friend told me the other day that when you plant the seeds they have to grow roots down and grow up through the dirt. When we see nothing happening on the surface the hard work for the plant is happening just under the surface. This is how waiting on the Lord is, too. We put in the work and begin to wait on the results but this is the time he is working under the surface. Don't give up praying. Wake up each morning to look for the sprouts of what God is doing in your life.
Author Bio
Rikki Permenter, MAMFC, Th.M., is the owner of Bent Tree Counseling in Clinton, La. She is currently a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in the state of Louisiana. She is the wife of Cole Permenter, pastor of Bluff Creek Baptist and a doctoral student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Interested in counseling or have questions? Check out her website www.benttreecounseling.com.
This article can be found in print in the monthly Baptist Association of Southeast Louisiana newsletter.
