Church Worker Wellness – Week 37 devotion: Spiritual wellness

“Building Up the Body: Worker-to-Worker” is a series of church worker wellness devotions. Visit lcms.org/wellness for more resources.

Faith Wiechers, Lutheran middle school teacher and pastor’s daughter

Hope in the waiting

We wait a lot.

We wait for answers.

We wait for kids to grow out of certain stages, the seasons to change, babies to arrive, medical results, calls to be accepted or turned down.

We wait for the weekend, a vacation, aging parents to agree to downsize, fellow teachers to submit grades … the list goes on and on.

I’m sure you can think of plenty other items to add to this list.

Some things are easier to wait for. We know the weekend will eventually come, so waiting for it doesn’t take much faith.

However, when you’re in the midst of medical testing that doesn’t guarantee a positive outcome, waiting takes hope only God can give us.

At times, our waiting can be fulfilling. God sends us people who have been through the same waiting. Those people become our support system. We become so blessed through these people.

However, other times our waiting season can be extremely lonely and quiet.

How do we have joy in the waiting? How can we hold on to peace in our waiting? When waiting lapses into years and years, how do we have hope in our waiting?

We turn our focus from the waiting to the promise of Jesus that never fails.

Psalm 119:81, in the New Living Translation, tells us:

“I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word.”

Like the psalmist, we long for deliverance from our burden of waiting. We can feel worn out. We can feel like our cries are not being heard, but our hope is in God’s Word that never changes or fades.

Our hope is not in the end of our waiting, but in Jesus.

Hebrews 13:8 also promises:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

God is good, even in the waiting. It is helpful to find the bright spots and focus on doing His work.

Jesus is unchangeable. His promises do not change.

Consider asking yourself where you can connect with others in your time of waiting, through serving or sharing?

Jesus connects with us and gives us this body of believers to hold fast in the waiting.

Jesus Christ, You are the reason for the hope we have in us (1 Peter 3:15). All our hope is in You, in the waiting and the fulfillment. In Your name we pray, Amen.

“Building Up the Body: Worker-to-Worker” devotions and prayers will be released Monday mornings on the LCMS Facebook and Twitter pages. Church Worker Wellness devotions will also be archived online.

LCMS church workers and their families are invited to offer encouragement to other workers and families by submitting a 500-word devotion for the Synod’s worker-to-worker wellness devotion series. Email questions and submissions to workerwellness@lcms.org.