years go by, but waiting remains (day 1)

I sat on my twin bed waiting.  I couldn't concentrate on my books. These were the days before I could multitask and distract myself with Facebook and other social media.  All I could do was wait for the phone to ring. Would he call? When? My heart couldn't handle the stress. Why was it taking so long?

Not much has changed in fifteen years. I am no longer waiting for that boy from youth group to call. However, I still find myself dealing with the stress of waiting.  Currently I am  waiting on answers from medical professionals regarding my youngest son. I find myself once again waiting for the role of "wife of a college student" to be over. I am waiting for some doors to open, and at the same time I find myself wondering why other doors have closed.  The situations involving waiting have changed through the years, but the questions and the heartache are not very different. 

I can look back and tell my teenage-self, "There, there, it all worked out okay, didn't it?" It is easy to say that from the perspective of the present.  But what about today's waiting?  What do I do with my when questions? What do I do with the why's, the how's, and the what now's?  I know the right answers, but sometimes, often times, those answers are not enough. And so in this season of waiting, what is my job? What is the purpose?

My prayer is that through this month we will find that purpose. I believe there are more than a cookie-cutter answers to our hard questions. My prayer is that we will find peace and contentment and stability, even as our worlds seem shaky and uncertain.

(My introduction to this series can be found here.)