Navigating The Waiting Season Ep 61

On this episode I dive deep into the concept of 'the waiting season,' a period of life where we find ourselves waiting for a desired outcome such as a job, relationship, or clarity of some kind.

There are challenges and fears that accompany this season but it also holds an important purpose.

This episode includes personal anecdotes and stories from some of my clients who have patiently waited for an outcome (and received their breakthrough) and what they learnt in the process. 

On this episode I encourage you to trust the process, embrace the growth and learnings that come with waiting, and to rely on faith rather than self-effort. 

You'll receive actionable guidance on how to find peace and purpose during this time and learn how to stay hopeful and expectant. 

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Transcript

0:26

Hello and welcome back to the podcast. It's Annabelle here. So happy you're here with me. And I'm really looking forward to sharing this episode with you. This has been something I've been sitting on for a while now. I keep coming back to notes and points and things that I want to discuss with you about this episode. And I really just hope this is going to be a. Form of real encouragement for you. If you find yourself in this period right now, or perhaps you can recognize how this period has shown up for you in the past. So this podcast episode is all about the waiting season and a waiting season is that space that we're in when we're waiting for something to shift, we're waiting for something to become clear. We're waiting for. The manifestation of an outcome in our lives, and maybe that is a relationship, perhaps it's a new job or an opportunity to open up in our existing job or career, or perhaps it's to receive clarity about what we're supposed to be doing next. Or maybe we're waiting on a baby. There's a desire that we have for something, but we haven't yet seen the fulfillment of this. That's what the waiting season is. And it can be a challenging time. It can be a time when the mind can get very busy and make up a lot of stories that can hold us back. A lot of the time it can feel lonely being in the waiting season. It can sometimes be described as wandering in the wilderness. And I know that I've totally felt that way. And many points when I've walked through a waiting period or a waiting season, and it can also feel scary too. When we have no guarantee of an outcome, but we are clinging to faith and hope and believing for this thing that we really want, but we can't see how it's going to happen. That can feel really scary. And sometimes we feel rejected. We might see other people receiving the breakthroughs and the outcomes and the blessings that we want for ourselves. And we wonder. Why hasn't that been done for me? What's wrong with me? Maybe that means I'm not good enough. Maybe that means I'm never going to get there. And what I want to say to you before we even get into this episode is that waiting seasons are normal and they are a part of life and that there is a very clear purpose to a waiting period. There's a reason why we have to wait and Always for our good, and I'm going to be breaking all of that down for you today to really support you. If you're in a waiting period, if you were in a waiting season, what I'm going to be sharing with you today is really going to help you as you move through that season. Not only to, I hope it encourages you. I hope it gives you. You like faith and hope that what you want is coming, but I also help hope it helps direct you and guide you to things that you can be doing to support yourself in the waiting period and the waiting season to ultimately allow you to get to the other side. So working with many clients over the years. I've seen what it's like for people to walk through a waiting season. I've been through really clear waiting seasons myself too. So I really get it. And whilst they can be uncomfortable and often really uncomfortable to walk through, a waiting season is also really good. There's always an indicator that we're about to experience a breakthrough. So that's the good news. There's, it's an indication of a turning point in our lives. And if we're willing to lean into the lessons and the learnings of the season, that's absolutely what we experience. So in this episode, I'm going to be giving you some guidance, some things, as I said, to support yourself as you move through this, to help you move out of the waiting season. And I'm also going to be weaving in some stories from some of my clients, and I'll be sharing this with their permission. Several clients who have most recently been through a waiting season. One client who's been on a fertility journey waiting for a baby. Another client who was waiting on fertility. Clear financial provision another client who was waiting on a relationship and they've experienced the blessing and the outcome that they were waiting on, but it was preceded by a waiting period. They had to sit and wait for this outcome. And there was a bunch of things that they learned in that process that they've given me permission to be able to share with you today. So I hope that's a real source of encouragement for you as well. So no matter what sort of brings you to this episode, whether you're a regular listener, maybe someone's recommended you come and listen to this. I want to encourage you to really open yourself up to what this episode might have for you. Maybe some of the concepts are new to you. Maybe some of the concepts, maybe even trigger you. Maybe some of the terms that I use might trigger you. And I just want to encourage you to stay really open because some of those things that. Create that reaction and us are often the very things that we need. So yeah, just want to encourage you around that as well. And also if you haven't already make sure you subscribe to the podcast, whether you're on Spotify, you can subscribe there or an Apple podcasts. If you enjoy this episode or perhaps you've listened to other ones. And they've been useful and valuable for you. I'd really appreciate if you could leave a rating on Spotify. These are little stars at the top of the podcast on Apple podcasts. You can do the same and leave a review for the podcast that really supports the podcast. And it really helps it get out there to be shared with more people. So thanks so much in advance if you choose to do that and let's get into the episode. So the first thing that I want to say to you is that not knowing how something is going to happen is not a problem. This in and of itself was game changing for me to land on. So our culture is really obsessed with certainty. So always needing to have a plan, always needing to know what's next, and we do all sorts of things to try and avoid uncertainty. And as a byproduct of living in amongst our culture, we can take on that belief system as So this belief that Not having a plan or not being certain or not being clear about what's ahead, about how something is going to happen, about whether it's going to happen is a bad thing. And I want to offer you a whole different perspective on this because it's not irresponsible to not have a plan. It doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't mean that bad things are ahead and it doesn't mean that you're destined for failure. Not knowing is actually not a problem. Sometimes we actually have to wait and we have to not know. And it's not a bad thing. And I used to really judge myself harshly for this. I used to think, when I was unclear about certain things in my life, and particularly in my business, if I was in a waiting season of wondering, I just sense these change. I sense there's something new for me to be doing, and I can't figure out what that is. I'd give myself a hard time about that, thinking that if I was a better person at this, then I would know, I would be clearer. Yeah. But it's just not true. Waiting has such a clear purpose to it. And in many ways that can actually be quite exciting because we know that there is a transformation happening within us that is really going to create the outcome, the breakthrough that we're looking for. So even if at times it feels uncomfortable, sometimes even scary there is just some really profound work that happens within us when we're in a waiting season. And I think the reason why it can feel quite scary is that the mind loves certainty. The mind always wants to know what's happening. It wants to always have a plan. It wants security. It thinks that when we have all of the certainty, then we're safe. And it thinks when we don't have the certainty then we're safe. We're unsafe. There are things to worry, to be worried about, but the reality is sometimes we just have to wait. And it's a normal transition that we go through as part of being a human being. And there is a, it's not a, an idle season. It's doesn't have, it's not a period where we just sit back and don't do anything. There's a really clear purpose to the waiting. And that's, I think the common feeling is that we think waiting is really passive. We think it's where time stands still. We have to sit and wait until we see clearly again, and then we'll be able to get up and get moving again. But it's actually, waiting is actually a really active time. If we choose to lean into the lessons, into the growth, that waiting is wanting to draw us into. So a lot of the time when we're waiting, we're asking the question, like, where is this plan? Where is this thing that I've been waiting on and how do I get it? But I've found that over the years, that's actually the wrong question to be asking. And it often leads us into more confusion, more uncertainty, and more stress. So I think the question we actually need to be asking ourselves when we're waiting is how am I being shaped in this season? And what am I being called to release and let go of? And those two can be really great questions, like really good journaling prompts to sit with. How am I being shaped in this season and what am I being called to release and let go of? I can look back on past waiting seasons and see that there was such important work being done inside of me that was really preparing me for the thing that I'd been asking for. So waiting is actually ultimately for our good. Because sometimes there is stuff that we're carrying that we cannot bring with us into the next season and that might be old beliefs that we're carrying old habits Old ways of being that are going to really hinder us or maybe even block the blessings that are about to enter our lives We have to let some stuff go And this is where God is so good because he really sees the whole picture from beginning to end and he knows where we are. But the good news is he actually knows where we're going and he's created that plan for us and he knows what we need to be equipped to get there. He also knows like what is going to get in our way what we're actually currently holding that's actually going to create problems for us if we carry it with us into the next season. So let's just say you work in a company and you're in a position of management and you've got people reporting up to you. And you have this really eager employee who is young but very eager, wants to grow, wants to be challenged and has set their sights on this job. And you're not just going to go and place them straight into that role just because they want it. There's a period of development that they're going to need to go through so that they're really well equipped for the challenges, the demands, the requirements of that position. And this is what the waiting season can be for us. And it's relevant whether you're waiting for a job, whether you're waiting for a baby, a relationship, some clarity of some kind, a healing, whatever it might be. And this is where it's so important that we reframe the waiting season. If we see it as wandering through the wilderness and we're complaining and we feel so hopeless about it, we actually block ourselves from seeing what work God is wanting to do within us. And that's ultimately going to bring us to what it is that we're desiring. And I think when we are choosing to, when we are wandering and we're complaining, or we feel really hopeless about the waiting season and we're not able to see the lessons, I think that means we end up staying in the waiting season longer than we need to. So I can really look back. As I said, On past waiting seasons. I see the work that was done in me that was preparing me for the blessings that I was about to be given. And then what happens is when we receive the thing that we've been asking for, then we actually know how to fully receive it. It doesn't cause Us unnecessary stress. It doesn't seem down nervous system into overdrive. We can actually steward the thing that we received really well, we can take care of it, we can manage it, we know how to engage with it in a really healthy way. And I know that it can be scary when we're waiting, especially when it's It feels like there's a time limit on something, when you're perhaps like waiting on a baby and you feel yourself getting older, maybe it's a financial thing. It's a money thing. And you're really needing to see that like next lot of provision financially. And it's this point where sometimes we go is this when I start freaking out? And I've thought about that many times. Is this a time when I need to start freaking out about this? But I've always seen God come through. The provision has always happened. And whatever way that provision was, it's always happened. And Quite honestly, never in the way that I suspected and not always in the timing that I wanted, but it's always happened. I've always been taken care of. So maybe, it's about a relationship and a baby. I've worked with clients where that's been the case. They've really wanted a relationship and they've wanted to start a family. And there's been a real timeline on that because they were at an age biologically when that can become challenging. But just because it hasn't happened yet. It doesn't mean it's not ever going to happen. And I think there is a, an appointed time for everyone to receive the breakthrough that they've been asking for and seeking. And we don't always know what that time is. And I've just seen this play out so many times in, the lives of clients that I work with. And like looking across these experiences I see that it often doesn't happen in the timing that we would like, because we would have liked it to have happened yesterday. But I can look at the breakthroughs and the provision and the abundance that's come at the end of that season and I can just see that God is so faithful in the way that he provides for us. And I've seen miraculous things. I've seen things like a client being told by doctors that they would never be able to conceive a child naturally. And then out of nowhere, they conceive themselves with no intervention. I've seen a client in her early forties who was waiting on a relationship and had this deep desire to be a mother. She was in a waiting season when we met, and then shortly after she met her now husband and started a family with him and conceived a baby naturally. I found a client of mine who. She left her job because it became so toxic to her mental and emotional health that it was the only option left for her to take and she left without having any other work lined up and so many people tried to speak fear into her about how, about the uncertainty and how unwise that was and she was completely provided for. New work came in at just the right time, paying her more and working less hours. But what has always preceded these breakthroughs that I've witnessed in other people and also in myself is the preparation. There's been work we've done, within ourselves to release things, to heal things to be able to receive what it is that we've been asking for. So I asked a couple of my clients who have been working through waiting seasons recently and have actually seen breakthroughs and some of them. These breakthroughs have happened just in the last month and I asked them about what their experience has been of the waiting season and what they feel the purpose was for them in the waiting. What, looking back now after having received the thing that they've been asking for, what do you think the waiting season was about for you was the question I asked. And so I'm sharing these stories with their permission. The first client was in a waiting season around her work, and she's a contractor, and her contract had finished up mid year. And there was a lot of fear circulating in her industry that there would be no more work, and that it was going to be a struggle to find anything more. And she did an amazing job of being able to step outside of that fear, and clear it, and not take it on. And not long after her contract had finished, a couple of new contract opportunities presented themselves, which was amazing. But then for a number of reasons, those contract negotiations just kept dragging on. And there was still no signed agreements weeks later. And her previous work had finished up. Then those weeks turned into a few months and they just seem to be funding delays and other reasons and this could have been a moment where she really gave in and decided to go get a job, go back to something else that she used to do or go into a spiral of fear. But she really remained in the state of trust and openness, and she could really feel beneath some of those worries, which are normal to experience worries like that, but underneath those worries, what she felt was like, this is where I'm supposed to be, and she felt that it was going to work out, and that ultimately led her to her breakthrough, and just a week or so ago, Both contracts have come through and she's back into paid work again. And so I asked her, so what was that about? Do you think, why do you think you had to wait? And she was saying that the waiting season gives us space for answers to surface, to pop up. And it gave her a chance to rest, which she actually really needed. Looking back on, she really needed this time to be able to rest. It gave her time to reflect on her achievements and the work that she'd just completed. And It, it helped her have the time to really look at all of the other times in the past where she's been supported, where she didn't know how things were going to happen, but they worked out the other waiting season she's been in. That space enabled her to really call on those opportunities and that helped really deepen her trust and faith knowing that she would be supported again. Another client of mine. And we've been working together for a number of years now. And one of the areas I've been supporting her with is an area of a relationship. And again, I'm sharing this with her permission. She's at the age where she really wants to find a relationship for life. She wanted to settle down and there's been a big waiting period for her, for the right person and the right relationship to show up for her a number of years. And there were many opportunities. Where she could have maybe made something work, but deep down, she knew it wasn't everything that she wanted or deserved. So she didn't move prematurely. She stayed in this place of trust and faith and the kind of relationship that she wanted. And it's been so rewarding to walk out this journey with her over these years and to now see her in this beautiful relationship with someone who feels like a forever person for her. And so I asked her, what do you think the purpose of this waiting season was for you now looking back? And she said that the space has meant that I've been able to create a life that was really aligned to what I desired before welcoming someone into it. It's meant I've been able to become clear, certain, and comfortable in my own life and in who I am as a person. And then she said, then the thing that you want, when it comes in, you can so clearly see, ah, this is it. And this is why I waited. It's so clear and easy to receive that thing into your life and there's no confusion about it. Another client of mine who was waiting on a baby, waiting to become pregnant, asked her that same question. What do you think the waiting season was about for you? And she said for her it was about forgiving herself for past decisions that she was subconsciously punishing herself for without realizing what she saw was really reflected in the worthiness that she felt to be able to have a baby. And she talks about that there was an impact of stress and being so busy that she, there was actually no space for a baby to come into her life because she Her nervous system was dysregulated. Her hormones were imbalanced as a result. So she said that The lessons around trust and surrender was so big. Much of my life I had full control over everything. And this is the one thing I couldn't control the outcome for. And she said I couldn't do things to To support I could do things to support it, but I couldn't make it happen and she said on reflection. Now, I believe that the emotional side of our world. So she's meaning our feelings impacts the physical. So the physical body and she said until I dealt with that, I think the same lessons and the nudges kept coming up. But the moment I healed. and process the previous pain that she was speaking of in the beginning. She said, I fell pregnant within two weeks. So that's pretty amazing. So she said lots of work around forgiveness, self worth, trust, and surrender. And she said, you can't speed up the waiting period. She thought maybe if I just did more of X, then I'd be able to get my baby sooner. But she said the same things kept recurring. And I think eventually I had. I had to surrender knowing I couldn't speed out, speed up the outcome. So I hope those stories, have some encouragement for you in them. I just feel really inspired even reading these out to you and recalling, how this is all played out for people. I think, looking over a lot of this, I think there's a theme as well that we need to find peace and contentment in what we have. It's about finding the joy that's already in front of us. And to feel safe where we are, to feel safe in what we've already been given. And through that contentment, we actually end the striving. We end the struggle. And it helps us to really submit to the work that's being done in us in the waiting season. It helps us to surrender to it. And ironically, when we do that, it moves us into the blessings that we've been asking for. So I just want to say today, if you're waiting, it doesn't mean you're not going to get there. When we're in a waiting season, the mind is always trying to make sense of it. And through that will often make up a lot of stories. And one of those stories can be I guess because of all this waiting, it's just an indication that it's never going to happen for me. And I can guarantee you with each of those client stories that I shared that those stories came up way more than once for those women. And I know that story has come up for me way more than once when I've been waiting, but I wanted to say, don't let your mind lead you down that path of thinking and choose to challenge those thoughts when they show up and redirect them. And I want to encourage you to date today that just because you're waiting, it doesn't mean you. You're not going to get there or it's not going to happen. It also doesn't mean that your prayers haven't been heard because God hears every single one of our prayers. And sometimes it can feel like when we're praying and we're asking a little bit like standing on a, like in front of a microphone and tapping on it and saying is this thing on? Can anyone hear me? Are these being heard? And sometimes we think that God is only hearing us when he's answered the prayer or the request that we've had, or the thing that I want is in my possession. But sometimes there's a bit of a detour that we have to go down that God is leading us on first. And that's still him answering our prayers. And that's going to help us to receive what we've been asking for. And that's where the waiting season is so purposeful. And as I was sharing earlier and through those client stories, that detour may involve us stripping away things that we've attached ourselves to, maybe belief systems, ways we've been thinking about ourselves patterns, things that just cannot come with us or are going to get in our way if we were to still have them, when that blessing arrives. So trust the waiting season, trust the work that's being done in you. And this is where space is super important. The discomfort of waiting can cause us to go into a stress response. And this is normal because uncertainty is what our mind equates to being unsafe. And the stress response may mean that we try and distract ourselves. So sometimes when we're in that stress response, we go into flight mode, which is like running around. Going into our to do list, getting really busy, not ever stopping. Sometimes it's freeze mode. Sometimes we numb out and we procrastinate and we scroll and we check out. These are all indicators that, that we're in a stress response in our body because The waiting can get really overwhelming for our nervous system. So I think it's so important that we tend to that and we take care of our bodies when we're waiting. Things like breath work, things like EFT tapping, grounding, getting out into nature, having really lovely rhythms and routines, morning and night, things that help us come into our bodies that feel really calming and comforting and soothing for ourselves. And we want to stay out of the distraction, staying out of the. Unnecessary doing out of the numbing and actually choosing to be really present instead because what this allows us to do is it allows us to receive guidance when we create space, we can hear the voice of God because he's always speaking to us, but most of the time We're not listening because our mind is so busy with all of our own thoughts and our own worries that this thing is never going to happen. So when you allow yourself space, that's how you receive guidance. It creates room for that guidance to come to you. It creates room for God to speak to you, for you to hear it. So space also gives us room to be able to open up to the work that's being done in us and in the waiting period as well. And I think that guidance comes to us in really practical ways too. So the sense that you need to take a certain action, there's a new way of looking at something that will emerge, that will start to lead you down a path. There's this way of thinking that I need to let go of, that I need to release. That I can see is really connected to the blessing that I'm waiting on. So we need to create that deliberate quiet time, that reflection time. We need to slow things down so we can tune into the part that we are being asked to play in the waiting season. So how can we participate in the preparation that's happening within us? So I want to give you those journaling prompts again, those two journaling prompts that I gave you earlier. How am I being shaped in this season? And what am I being called to release and let go of? So as we've been talking about, waiting is incredibly purposeful. It's building our character in so many ways. And another one of those ways is it helps us see where we've been placing our faith. And most of those times we've been placing our faith in ourselves and our own abilities and our own resources. Or maybe we've been placing our faith in other people, in our job, in things outside of ourselves, and this can be problematic because then we start to see these things as our source of provision, as security, as safety, we give our power away to people and jobs and situations and we see them as our provider. And sometimes when we're in a waiting season, these things that we've been placing our faith in, they've failed us and they've let us down. And those avenues of provision have dried up. And maybe we've done everything that we knew how to do, and it still hasn't happened. We've come to the end of our own strength, the end of our own understanding, and that's really where God wants us to be. We're not designed to be the ones micromanaging our lives and trying to sort it all out ourselves. And if you've always relied on yourself as the source of everything, as the source of wisdom and clarity and financial provision, you're really limited to your own humanness. So doing it all your own way, trying to figure it out all on your own is really stressful and it's going to lead to burnout. It's going to lead to a sense of hopelessness and you're going to start to feel really tired. And that's the thing. We run into problems. We block ourselves. I think when we try to solve things from the limitations of our own mind, because we are so limited by our own human understanding about things, we can only see like a fraction of how something's going to work out or how it could possibly come together. But the great news is that God sees the whole picture. From beginning to end and he knows where you're going and he has a plan for your life And you don't have to micromanage that and there's nothing that he doesn't see god is like the king of details He knows how to bring some of those Tiny pieces those minute pieces of the puzzle together to put you in the exact position To receive your breakthrough. And I've just seen this time and time again, ways I could literally never have imagined or conceived or even dreamed up in my mind. This spin this way that's made, that God's created this way that I couldn't have imagined. And. That's. The thing we've got to really remember is that we have to be willing to let go and to let him do it. And that requires us to sit in waiting, which is the opposite of what our mind wants to do. So I just want to say, it's okay to say, I don't know how God's going to answer this for me. But also to add to that, I'm open and I'm ready. And I'm expectant to see how God's going to move. So take the faith off yourself. Take the faith off your own understanding about how this is all going to work out, and redirect that to God. Let Him show you how He's going to do it, and rest in His ability to provide for you. And if you're feeling tired or exhausted from trying to figure it all out, to try and make it all happen, there is another way. That's the good news. You can ask God to take that burden from you and get him to show you his plan for you, which is inevitably so much better for you than you could have ever thought up for yourself. So he hears every prayer and is gonna wanna work this out for you. And even if that's new, even talking about God or thinking about asking for help in this way, if that feels new for you, that's not something you've ever done, maybe even just feels a bit uncomfortable even as I'm talking about that there may be something there for you. The things that create that response in our body are often. If we can move past that resistance, there's often something there for us that we're actually needing that's going to really help us. It can be really tempting to move prematurely in a waiting season, but I want to remind you, be prepared to wait on God and not move until you hear from him. We can move prematurely out of fear, a fear that He's not going to come through a fear that it's not going to happen. And so we pick it up again and we try to solve it ourselves. We try to do it in our own strength. And I've done this like more times than I would like to admit. And there's this kind of impulsive streak in me. And I think what happens is when I experience a disappointment or I get let down or there's uncertainty or something stresses me out. Yeah. And that generates a fear in me that impulsive streak can come out where I just want to go out and solve it. I just take the action and figure it out myself. And God's really done a work in me in that over the years, but I still notice that impulse can pop up for me. And. Sometimes I had to let myself mentally entertain that for a period of time, but I always come back. I only want this. I only want to do it this way if that is what is God's will for me. There's literally nothing worse than being outside of God's will. It will feel like pushing a 10 ton of bricks up a hill. So I only want something. I only want to do it a certain way if I can feel like that is the will of God. That's something he wants me to do. So your mind is always going to try and race ahead and going to try and solve this for yourself in your own way with your own ideas. You'll find that you're trying to artificially speed the process up, which is normal because waiting feels uncomfortable. Waiting can be scary and we don't want to sit in here forever. So the mind gets busy thinking, okay, let me just try and solve this. But when we do this, we solve it from the limitations of our own humanness. We think, okay I'm just going to try and make it work with this person. Maybe this is an okay relationship and I'll just try and make it work. This job is okay. It's not amazing. This offer that they've given me, it's not sort of everything that I wanted, but I guess I'll have to do. I haven't seen anything else out there. And often what happens is we settle for a counterfeit version of what God is actually wanting to give us because we choose to do it our own way. But I can guarantee you that there'll be a much better way for. Your thing to happen there's a there's something better for you But we have to wait and see that and you'll know if you're trying to artificially speed the process up because there'll be a raciness There'll be an undercurrent of urgency and if in fear attached to what you're doing Your body will communicate with you in that way And when there's something we step into that we know is really divinely directed, there'll be a feeling of peace about it, maybe even a feeling of being quite settled about it. So that's always a really good kind of feedback system. When we're in a waiting season, it's important to look for evidence of faithfulness. So it's important that we take time to reflect on our past and see the ways in which we've always been provided for. We can draw a lot of confidence and a lot of hope from this. And it helps that part of our mind that's worried, that's scared, that wants to pick up control again. It helps that part of our mind see really tangible physical evidence that yes, There is something taking care of me that yes, things have a way of working out for me. So I want you to think about times in your life where you just had no idea how things would work out, that you couldn't see a way, things felt hopeless, but somehow a way was made. Somehow the pieces came together. Somehow it all became clear. It's really important to intentionally look back on those things. And that's why I love to keep like a running list of these things in my journal. I look at all of the ways my prayers have been answered, the ways that God's come through for me. When my faith needs to be stirred up, I go back and look on those things. I recall them and I say, yes, it's actually all good. I'm safe. I'm being taken care of. God is faithful and he always makes a way and often not in a way that I could ever have come up with. So I need to stop trying to solve this and stop trying to guess how it's going to happen and just be expectant that I'm going to see a way happen that it's going to happen. Often God will make us wait longer than what is comfortable for us to really encourage us to lean into him. So the waiting draws us closer to God, which is what he wants. He wants us to be in an intimate relationship with him. Was where his children. And I think about myself as a parent. I want Eloise to be as close to me as possible. I don't even want her to think of me as a distant or emotionally unavailable or far off parent that is not accessible, but sometimes that's how we choose to be in a relationship with God, because we choose to do it in our own strength. We choose to try and solve our own problems. There can be a number of reasons why we do this. I think sometimes we choose to do it our own way because we don't realize that there's another way. We don't realize that. There is this just amazing God, this incredible loving parent who wants to take care of us and wants to provide for us. Maybe it's because we've never had exposure to who that is, or maybe we turn our backs to that idea of who God is because we've had some like weird experiences. People have put us off that We've had experiences ourselves that haven't felt good. And so there's this tainted view of who God is. Sometimes that can be because we have, um, like an earthly father who we were never able to rely on, who was never emotionally available for us. And so sometimes we can project that onto who God is. I know I've spent so much of my life. Trying to do it myself. And it's created so much stress and strife for me feeling like everything was always up to me that I had to be the one. That would solve my problems and I had to work it all out myself and I had to provide for myself And that is just such an enormous amount to carry but we don't have to do that because God is saying put all of that burden down and let me carry it for you There is so much more peace available when I understand that God is not a far off distant God in the sky pointing his finger at me, telling me what I've done wrong. He's a loving parent and more loving than we could like ever conceive or imagine and he wants the best for me. And I think about how much I want to help Eloise, my wee girl, with anything she would need. Any need that she would ever have, I would always want her to come to me and ask for my help and ask for my support. And I would never want her to feel like she's carrying a burden on her own. And that's me. I'm an imperfect human, right? But how much more would God be like this completely perfect divine parent when we consider who he is, how much more would he want to provide for us and take care of us? So God wants us to lean on him and this can be confronting, as I said, if we've had a father, a human father, who's felt distant, who's felt inaccessible, we can project that onto God and think, oh he must be the same, but that's where waiting seasons are so purposeful because we often get as far as we can in our own strength on our own. And we don't know where else to turn or where else to go. And that's exactly the place that God wants us because then we can surrender and submit to him and say, look. I don't know anymore, but I want to be shown, and that's ultimately for our good. And I think more important than our own efforts is our ability to surrender. And I think these two things, the waiting season and our ability to surrender, Just go hand in hand and the more we can surrender, I think the easier the waiting period is. So sometimes when things are taking longer, and especially if we've been working on our mindset, maybe we've been trying to think really positively about this experience or. We're thinking like, oh, there must be like some block in me that I'm missing. I must need to work harder on myself to clear what I'm missing. There must be something wrong with me. That's why I haven't attracted this thing that I've wanted yet. And of course, it's like valuable to go into this work to look at, okay, what might need, I, what might I need to be shifting within myself? What beliefs might I need to be holding? And I think that's always helpful. That always helps us create a breakthrough, but it's not what I'm speaking of here. There's a point where there is the work we do in ourselves is valuable. It's important, and it's needed. But there's a point we use that against ourselves, and it loops back into this idea of Doing too much for ourselves to get the outcome that we want. We think if I can just do more work on myself, try harder then we'll get there through our own sheer effort and our own determination, our own will. And it just, If we do that, it just reinforces this template that next time we'll pick it up and we'll do it again that way. And that's really the opposite of how we're designed to live. Really, God wants us to rely on him for what we need. We were created to be dependent upon him. And this doesn't mean that we're lazy and that we don't apply ourselves or help ourselves. But we always know when we're veering into the realm of too much of helping ourselves, too much self help because we'll feel it in our bodies. Will feel pressured. It will feel like overwhelm. It'll feel like urgency and scarcity and rushing. Whereas when we're participating in his plan for us, there's a feeling of flow. There's so much more ease to the action that we're taking. And I just think about my birth, for example As an example, really around surrendering, it was just man, it just, it was just this incredibly concentrated, accelerated new level of learning around surrender. And, I'd done all of the exercises that I needed to do to induce labor. I drank all the tea. I ate the dates. I had my chiro appointments, osteo appointments. I had energy work done. I felt amazing. I felt really good. And these were, All good preparations. But I can look back and I can see so much of what I was doing was I was trying to make something happen. I was trying to secure the birth that I wanted to have through my own effort and my own strength. And I got to 41 weeks and I felt really good and I was really healthy. And so was the baby, but. The baby was just not coming. And I was doing all of the things that people tell you that you need to do to bring about to bring about labor and just nothing was happening. It was like time was literally standing still. And eventually my labor did start and. It went on for days though, it was really long and intense, and I got all the way to the end of my own strength, really, to when the labor started, it it started, then it would peter off again, and it would start, and it would peter off, and then towards the end, when it started to just be really intense, and it felt like, okay, this has got to be happening sometime soon, I was trying still so hard, I can look back to try and make it happen in my own strength, and I just couldn't Looking back seeing now I could not have delivered that baby through my own strength. It was never going to happen that way. And I remember lying on my bed at about one in the morning and my midwife had been there for a period of time. And she said, I'm just going to leave you because I think you're really up in your head. And you need to come into your body and sometimes then being there can mean that you feel a bit more pressure to make things happen. And so I just remember lying on my bed, middle of the night, just feeling so exhausted and so hopeless about like, why is this not happening? This has gone on for days and so exhausted. And I just remember praying and saying I literally can't make this happen on my own. I've realized I've been trying to do that this whole time and I can't do it. And so I just remember praying. I just give this over to you, whatever needs to happen and whatever way this needs to happen. I just hand it over to you and I just trust that. You're going to make away and within an hour of doing that, my waters broke and Eloise arrived. So it's just shows like how powerful surrender is. I have this habit of, it's something that God has really been working in me so much over the, many years actually to stop trying to do it all myself all the time. It's so much more important. More than anything we could do is actually to surrender, to just hand it over, and that's ultimately what puts us in this place of receptivity. It places us in an openness to receive blessings and to receive the things we're after. So our ability to surrender is more important than our own self effort. And when we go to step out and take action from a surrendered place, it's also so much easier to do that. Okay, we're coming down the home straight. We're almost at the end of this podcast episode. And the last thing I want to say to you is to keep praying and keep asking. Here's the thing, you'll get what you desire. Or God will do a work in you to shift your desires to come into more alignment with what it is that you're supposed to be asking for, which is really ultimately going to be really for your good. So I want to encourage you to pray and really believe that you've been heard and believe that God is already working within you. Rest in that fact and expect that you're going to say things to God. Move, expect that you're going to see things going to start to shift really be looking for those things and walk through your day believing God's heard me and he's helping me and that things are working out for me. Sometimes we can get so stuck in the disappointment. It's really hard when things haven't occurred in the timing that we would like. I so get that. And if that's the place that you're in, I just, I so want to offer just. So much empathy to you, because it is really hard when this, the timing doesn't make sense in our human mind. And if we've been waiting for a long time, it can mean that we can often give up hope. But I just want to be that encouragement to you today to say keep praying and keep asking for what it is that you need. And to know that those prayers are being heard. They're not just drifting off into the sky. To know where God hears every single prayer that we make and to not just keep praying, but really believe that you've been heard and that he's already working. And whether you see those results and the natural physical world or not know that they are and stay in this place of expectancy. That in any moment, you're going to see that breakthrough, that it's going to happen that in any moment that. email that you've been waiting for is going to land in your inbox that new job or opportunity is going to be placed in front of you through just like a whole lot of divine synchronistic encounters that you could never have planned yourself. That, that relationship with that person that you've been waiting on is going to enter your life that the next month you could be pregnant. Keep your hope up even, and especially if it's been a long time and walk through your day, really believing that your prayers have been heard or in the process of being answered, and we can ask for help with that faith. We don't have to try and drum that faith up on our own. We can really ask for God for that to strengthen our faith as we walk this out. So I hope this podcast has been a source of encouragement for you, whether you're in a waiting season right now, or maybe you. You'll inevitably be in one, in another point in your life, right? Because they're just a normal part of going through the process of life. But I just want to remind you that putting our trust in God is the safest place to be. We, when we choose to rest in Him, we literally cannot fail. And I just pray for anyone listening that you would just continue to have a deeper revelation of that. And I'm hoping that I will as well. And if this resonates with you, if you are in a waiting season and you're wondering, what is this all about for me? How can I make sense of this? How can I lean into the purpose of the season and the work that's being done in me? This is the work that I help clients with that I just love and am so passionate about. So check out the link below if you're interested in learning more about working with me. There's a link there that has all of the information and you can find out a little bit more about me and how I work there. And I'm here if you've got any questions, don't hesitate to reach out, but please share this episode. If there's someone that, who is waiting on something I just really want Would love you to share this episode with them as a form of encouragement that there may just be something in this that could be a catalyst, something that kind of breaks this whole thing open for them in the best possible way. So please do share it with them. And for anyone that may need some encouragement as well, make sure you go and check out some of the other podcast episodes. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and also come over to my website. There's a link below in the description of this episode. Download my I am audio. I've just done a brand new recording of this. I recorded this audio six years ago. It's a daily sort of motivational audio that you can listen to. It's gone on to have thousands of plays over that time. Many people share with me it's just helped them in seasons like the waiting season to keep that faith and hope to stay hopeful, to stay expectant to stay positive in these times when we can feel disappointed. So this could be a really awesome resource for you. It's free to download on my website. It's about a seven minute audio. I've got Just rerecorded it now. Just given it some new language, some new words, and it's just has this incredible energy to it. All you need to do is just press play, listen to it for the seven minutes and just allow the words that I'm saying to really fill your mind and body and really within moments of listening to this audio, you're going to feel an energy. Instant boost of positivity and motivation, and it's just going to really support you to stay faithful and hopeful that your breakthrough is, near is just around the corner. So go and check that out. The link to the, I am audio is below and it's free to download on my website. Thanks so much for being here. I'm looking forward to sharing more episodes with you soon. And if you enjoyed this episode, please let me know. I would love to hear you. Reach out to me on Instagram, send me an email, let me know your thoughts on this episode. And we'll connect again soon.