February 16th, 2024

​                The    WAITING   ROOM  by Sophia Anyanwu
Have you ever had the experience of waiting in anxiety for a promotion, an interview, an exam result or even waiting for the blessing of the womb or a spouse for ourselves or for family members? You will agree with me that it is a place of unsettlement within our spirit. As Christians, we know that waiting for answers to prayers is a place that tests our faith. It is easy to weave in between doubt and our trust in God.
 I was blessed by a message on the theme of waiting on the Lord’s hope.  The biblical examples of Zechariah and Elizabeth from the New Testament and Abraham and Sarah from the Old Testament  were cited as having waited for so long in agony for their children. The traumatised waiting of the Jews for so many years for a deliverer from slavery in Egypt was based on a hope that never deemed.   I was conscious of the irony in celebrating the anniversary of the coming of the Lord Jesus in festivity with that of the Jews waiting in despair and anguish for their freedom.
 We are all in the waiting room awaiting the New Year 2024 in hope knowing that as we commit our work to the Lord, all our plans will be established. [Proverbs 16:3] For many of us, this past year has been challenging in terms of our expectations on our health, our age, our family, our writing and other issues but we will continue to wait on the Lord. Let us hold on firmly to the hope we profess because we can trust God to keep His promise [Hebrews 10:23]. No matter how long we wait in the waiting room, we wait in hope and assurance.
 As we hope to birth new books, gain breakthroughs in our finance and in our careers as writers in the coming New Year, we trust that our God will bring everything together at the right time.  2024 is pregnant and we are all in the waiting room to see what the new arrival will bring us all. May God richly bless you with your heart’s desires in 2024. May He reward you double for all the unfair things that happened to you in 2023. Amen.
Finally, as we step out of the waiting room to see what is in store for us, let us go with God’s prophecy in Isaiah 3:10:  The righteous will be happy and things will go well for them. They will be able to enjoy what they have worked for.  I wish you all a very blessed 2024 in your writing. Be encouraged.  Remember that ‘this hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out His love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us. Amen. [Romans 5:5]
#NewYear    #Hope   #Waiting   #ACW   #Encouragement   #Faith