How long have you been waiting? However long it’s been, it probably feels like forever sometimes. You wake up, day after day, and nothing has changed. Or it’s changed for the worse. Or it’s reached a crisis point, again. And it feels like the waiting will never, EVER end.

Some of you may be thinking, “waiting for what?” If so, maybe you’re not living with an urgent need right now. You may be waiting for something; something you hope will happen eventually, or something that you’d like to change or improve or be finished with. It doesn’t feel like it defines the parameters of your life, though. It’s not how you count your days.

But when I asked, “how long…?” at least a few of you immediately thought of a timeframe. You could tell me exactly how long – how many weeks, or months, or years it had been. How long you’d been hoping and praying for something. How long you’d been putting one foot in front of the other, wondering which step was ever going to bring you back into the sunshine.

I love stories of overcoming. I love movies where the enemy seems unconquerable, or the task seems too great. I love books where the hero faces the adversity and endures the struggle. Yeah, I’m a Lord of the Rings nerd. And you know what all of those stories have in common? It’s that point where the hero and his helpers look back and say, “we made it, we did it – we knew we could.” Because no one ends a movie or a book without getting to that point. No one ends a story with the hero still struggling – still waiting. Victory comes.

My story will reach that point; your story will reach that point. We know that. That’s why we keep going, isn’t it? But no matter how many times you tell yourself, “…all things work together for good…,” that knowing doesn’t stop the mortgage from coming due. It doesn’t stop the pain or reverse the effects of the disease. It doesn’t restore the relationship to where it was.

Oh my…that sounded harsh, didn’t it? So, so…COMPLAIN-Y. Like I don’t really believe…

If I really believed, wouldn’t the knowledge be enough? If I really believed, wouldn’t I be able to wait patiently? If I really believed, couldn’t I at least be quiet until I have a testimony of victory to give?

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” Psalm 40:1-2

Did you catch that? The Psalmist said, “I waited patiently,” and “he heard my cry.” Wait just a minute.  If he heard your cry, then that means you must have been…crying? You mean I can do BOTH?

Yeah, yeah you can. You can wait patiently, and you can also say that everything is not okay.  You can believe and you can cry. You can complain. You can vent and scream and wail. God is not going to be shocked or surprised. He already knows, anyway. He knows what you’re going through. He knows how hard you’re struggling.

As much as I love those books and movies of overcoming, they do tend to skimp on the boring details. The weeks and months and years of waiting. Waiting is not very cinematic. It’s real life. It’s real and messy and difficult. But it’s where God is also waiting. To hear from you. He wants you to come to him.

God doesn’t need your brave face. He’s not there to hear your hero speech. He’s there for your real life, your wounded heart.

And then someday, you’ll step into the sunshine and find yourself on solid ground.