8:00am to Noon.

That’s what they told me when I booked a repairman to check the ice maker and my washer.

At 11:45, I received a call from the repairman, asking a couple of questions about each appliance, then telling me he’d be at my house sometime between 2:30pm and 4:00pm.

Huh?

By the time he left, I’d spent almost an entire work day waiting on him. But you know what? Instead of trying to blame our ice maker problem on the fact that we’re on well water (like the phone person who finally dispatched him), he surprised me by saying,

I don’t think that’s the problem, at all. I think you have a bad ice maker and I’m going to replace the whole thing. And your washer? Turns out the rattle you heard was a loose ‘gunk trap.’ It just needed readjustment because apparently you didn’t get it completely back in place when you last emptied it.”

Well, alrighty then, Mr. Fix-it. Maybe you were worth the wait, after all.

Pleased, as I waved him off and started contemplating dinner, I happily picked up the phone as it started ringing. It was Kevin calling to tell me he’d finally had a phone conversation for which we’d been waiting a sweet forever. He had gone into it expecting some resistance in the discussion, but when he hung up, he was astonished at how well it had gone; even better than he’d dared dreamed as a best possible scenario.

Waiting is an inevitable part of life. There will always, always be something we are waiting on, and some seasons of waiting are harder than others because the stakes are higher. In my experience, those are the exact seasons when God stands at that question-marked door and, with His hand on the knob, asks…

Will you trust me to open it when and if I see fit?

And, instead of barreling passed Him to open the darn thing already, if we do trust, if we do believe He really knows what’s happening on the other side, we’ll be surprised, yet again, by the bounty of the answer as He finally begins to open the door.

Good things really do come for those who wait. Surprisingly, unexpectedly, exceedingly GOOD.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.” Lamentations 3:25 ESV

“Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, “God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.” Isaiah 40:27-31 MSG

“I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name,  for it is good, in the presence of the godly.” Psalm 52:9 ESV