“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.

Oh world, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

And with him is plentiful redemption,

And he will redeem them 

from all their iniquities.”

Psalm 130

A song of the heart I felt worth sharing.

Friends, this season has been a whole lot of waiting. The most powerful reality is, we are ALL waiting. We are not alone, even when we are physically alone. We are, in fact, deeply connected by the waiting in this perpetual unknown. But we are either waiting with hope or waiting in fear.

And honestly, I’ve done a whole lot more waiting in fear than in hope throughout this season. But after reading and sitting in these words above, 3 things have helped bring my heart back around to hope:

• Actively wait by hoping in the word — Run back to what is true when the lies of loneliness or fear set in. My heart and soul finds rest when I set aside time to actively set my hope upon Gods promises revealed in His word. Read them, let them soak in, write them down, and come back to them throughout each day. WE MUST NOT FORGET his promises... or fear will set in.

• Turn your fear into wonder — the picture of these watchmen that are eagerly watching for the sun to rise is a beautiful reminder. The sun always rises. They do not doubt that morning will come, they only wonder when.

  And what a way to wait for the Lord. He will come, he is here in the midst, he is at work, his promises are true. We do not have to wait with fear and doubt. Instead, we can wait with wonder of when and how the Lord will reveal himself.

• Open your heart and cry out  — The God of the universe, our creator, loves YOU. His love is steadfast and has claimed that he “will redeem.” He is fighting for you. But if we do not open our hearts up to be filled, we will miss it.

  I often think that opening up my heart meant I had to be glad and happy and thankful. But I truly believe that the “opening of your heart” begins with crying out with raw honesty. Share the hurt, speak your fears out loud, release your anger, shake your fists, let the tears roll down your face. If we harbor these things, it becomes a birth place of fear and they will ultimately control us and keep us from feeling his loving embrace.

  So let your heart cry out and allow his steadfast love and mercy to cover all of it. He is not afraid of your honesty. In fact, he welcomes it.

Friends, my hope is that these words will bring you even just a little bit of hope. Our God is big and he is with us in this waiting. These things can seem simple, but I must say, waiting is just hard. So offer yourself grace throughout. God is not looking for perfect. He is looking for your heart.