Para la mujer latina
About Me
Fun Facts about Van Walton
My favorite smell: The way the earth smells after it rains.
My favorite sound: The first notes of a grand symphony.
My favorite way to relax: Sitting anywhere outside - on my front porch, on my deck, or by the lake, early in the morning with my first cup of coffee.
My favorite birthday dessert: a Peach cobbler baked by my husband. He’s my fave chef!
I will not eat: Avocado. They turn my stomach into a volcano that never erupts.
Technology I couldn't live without and why: My laptop - it takes me anywhere I want to go.
One thing that makes me smile: My sons' faces!
Friend Van on FacebookMy Resources
My book, From the Pound to the Palace, is available for $10
from Proverbs 31 Ministries.
My book, Little Halos, is available for $5.99 from Proverbs
31 Ministries.
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- MOVIN' ON AFTER MOVIN' IN MONDAY
- A FAMILY HEIRLOOM:
- WEDNESDAYS ARE FOR WAITING
- MOVIN' ON AFTER MOVIN' IN MONDAY
- THE SECRET OF WAITING
- MOVIN' ON AFTER MOVIN' IN MONDAY
- WEDNESDAYS ARE FOR WAITING
- WAITING: THE HEAVIEST OF WEIGHTS
- MOVIN' ON AFTER MOVIN' IN MONDAY
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- MOVIN' ON AFTER MOVIN' IN MONDAY
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
WEDNESDAYS ARE FOR WAITING
I like Wednesdays almost as much as I like Fridays. Mondays are hard because I can’t wait until Friday and the weekend. I get through the week remembering that Wednesdays are hump day – over the hump day, meaning only two more days left before the weekend. I feel if I can wait and get through Wednesdays, I have it made!
So welcome to Wednesdays are for Waiting!
I will be teaching a Bible study at my church and posting about the study each Wednesday. The study will last through July. Please drop in and leave your comments. I know we can all benefit from cheering each other on.
WAIT TRAINING in GOD’S WAIT ROOM: When was the last time God ushered you into His Wait Room? Learn the secrets of spiritual strength training while lifting your heaviest waits. Be assured, your challenging time trials have been designed by a Personal Trainer who longs to give you a victorious prize.
Let’s talk about light waits. Do you have a pet peeve? Which is it?
Car pool line
Fast food drive through
Automated phone messages
Waiting room in the doctor’s office
Being put on hold while a friend answers her call waiting!
Standing in the check out line while cashier and hopper chat away
I call these light waits. They can not be avoided and they are annoying. We deal with them every day. How we lift them, especially in front of others, tells a lot about our character. I believe light waits build character. They certainly give us a chance to model patience, grace, humor, and bring a bit of joy into the lives of others--as the rest of the world stresses out
How do you handle light waits? Unfortunately I’ve been known to get testy.
Few of us are immune to heavy waits. Let’s name a few time trials:
Medical diagnosis
A job to come through
A prodigal child to return home
As I consider these heavy waits I fight despair, fear, anger, depression…
When God calls you to His Wait Room He doesn’t do so to purposefully make life more difficult for you, He has a plan.
Have you ever heard of King Hezekiah? He spent most of his 29 year long reign in God’s Wait Room, waiting and watching as enemy warriors marched toward his kingdom threatening total destruction.
Take a look at those heavy waits again. Do they look like the enemy to you? I dread a bad medical diagnosis. I fear for any run away child. The thought of not being able to find a job increases my anxiety to a level that nearly paralyzes me!
How did King Hezekiah handle the heavy wait of his enemy?
2 Kings 18 Introduces this king (a descendant of King David and an ancestor of King Jesus). We read that he did right in the sight of the Lord, he trusted the Lord
“so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among all those who were before him.”
Did you read that? None like him?
Trust must be a huge deal to God! So while in His Wait Room we can begin to practice a life of trust.
God wants us to trust Him. A true story illustrating God’s desire that we trust him took place in the early history of the Jewish nation. God freed the nation from the Egyptians and led them through the desert to the promised land. Of course water was scarce. Often the pilgrims had to wait for water. Often they gave Moses lots of grief. So God told Moses, “speak to the rock and tell it to send forth water.” Moses didn’t trust that God would deliver water under those circumstances. So without waiting, he took his staff and struck the rock. He didn’t trust God to provide water.
The story ends, “the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’ " Numbers 20:12
Centuries later, King David would write in Psalm25:2, “In you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.”
In God’s eye’s, trust is huge. He commands that we trust in Him and Him alone.
Here is your strength building exercise for this week:
Look up every instance in the Bible where the word trust is used. Read the verses. Study the circumstances. God is trustworthy, wouldn’t you agree?
God takes us to the Wait Room so we can learn to trust Him. He is our heavenly Spotter. Trust that He has allowed the weight of wait to weigh upon your heart. When you feel discouraged simply talk to God and say, “This is heavy Lord. I trust that You have allowed it for a purpose.”
Soon and very soon you’ll begin to see how your exercises in trust have strengthened you!
So welcome to Wednesdays are for Waiting!
I will be teaching a Bible study at my church and posting about the study each Wednesday. The study will last through July. Please drop in and leave your comments. I know we can all benefit from cheering each other on.
WAIT TRAINING in GOD’S WAIT ROOM: When was the last time God ushered you into His Wait Room? Learn the secrets of spiritual strength training while lifting your heaviest waits. Be assured, your challenging time trials have been designed by a Personal Trainer who longs to give you a victorious prize.
Let’s talk about light waits. Do you have a pet peeve? Which is it?
Car pool line
Fast food drive through
Automated phone messages
Waiting room in the doctor’s office
Being put on hold while a friend answers her call waiting!
Standing in the check out line while cashier and hopper chat away
I call these light waits. They can not be avoided and they are annoying. We deal with them every day. How we lift them, especially in front of others, tells a lot about our character. I believe light waits build character. They certainly give us a chance to model patience, grace, humor, and bring a bit of joy into the lives of others--as the rest of the world stresses out
Waiting!!!!
How do you handle light waits? Unfortunately I’ve been known to get testy.
Few of us are immune to heavy waits. Let’s name a few time trials:
Medical diagnosis
A job to come through
A prodigal child to return home
As I consider these heavy waits I fight despair, fear, anger, depression…
When God calls you to His Wait Room He doesn’t do so to purposefully make life more difficult for you, He has a plan.
Have you ever heard of King Hezekiah? He spent most of his 29 year long reign in God’s Wait Room, waiting and watching as enemy warriors marched toward his kingdom threatening total destruction.
Take a look at those heavy waits again. Do they look like the enemy to you? I dread a bad medical diagnosis. I fear for any run away child. The thought of not being able to find a job increases my anxiety to a level that nearly paralyzes me!
How did King Hezekiah handle the heavy wait of his enemy?
2 Kings 18 Introduces this king (a descendant of King David and an ancestor of King Jesus). We read that he did right in the sight of the Lord, he trusted the Lord
“so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among all those who were before him.”
Did you read that? None like him?
Trust must be a huge deal to God! So while in His Wait Room we can begin to practice a life of trust.
God wants us to trust Him. A true story illustrating God’s desire that we trust him took place in the early history of the Jewish nation. God freed the nation from the Egyptians and led them through the desert to the promised land. Of course water was scarce. Often the pilgrims had to wait for water. Often they gave Moses lots of grief. So God told Moses, “speak to the rock and tell it to send forth water.” Moses didn’t trust that God would deliver water under those circumstances. So without waiting, he took his staff and struck the rock. He didn’t trust God to provide water.
The story ends, “the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’ " Numbers 20:12
Centuries later, King David would write in Psalm25:2, “In you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.”
In God’s eye’s, trust is huge. He commands that we trust in Him and Him alone.
Here is your strength building exercise for this week:
Look up every instance in the Bible where the word trust is used. Read the verses. Study the circumstances. God is trustworthy, wouldn’t you agree?
God takes us to the Wait Room so we can learn to trust Him. He is our heavenly Spotter. Trust that He has allowed the weight of wait to weigh upon your heart. When you feel discouraged simply talk to God and say, “This is heavy Lord. I trust that You have allowed it for a purpose.”
Soon and very soon you’ll begin to see how your exercises in trust have strengthened you!
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14 comments:
Van-you are being prayed for daily for P31 She Speaks conference!! Can't wait to meet you all!!
In His Graces~Pamela
I so thankful I've visited your blog today. Our Bible study group is talking about "waiting on God" next Tuesday and I've found so many wonderful truths here. I'm going to read your other posts on "waiting" as well. Perfect timing!!!
This morning during my devotional time God reminded me of Hannah's wait for a child and the Israelites wait for Moses to return from meeting God on the mountain. Both stopped waiting on God, took matters into their own hands and suffered the consequences.
John Ortberg writes, "What God does in us while we wait is as important as what it is we are waiting for."
God sits with me in the "waiting room" and I pray He teaches me to wait on Him, not His answers. He will tenderly hold my heart as He accomplishes all that conerns me. Psalm 138:8
I will be attending "She Speaks" next weekend and I just wanted you to know of my prayers. I am praying and claiming Psalm 91 over you - that God will guard, guide and protect you and that you will find your refuge, strength and hope in Him.
Blessings,
Joy
Wow, this is a very inspiring blog and I'll take on the challenge to look up the words on trust over the next few days. Thanks!
I have to say your comparing lite things and heavy things makes me think of going to the gym. I had to start with lite weights and I was sore, but after a while I could increase the weights and I no longer felt pain!
I'm praying for you today as you prepare for She Speaks! Hope to see you there.
what a blessing this is to me. thank you for comparing lite weight to heavy weight; it made me think of he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much...I now need to be more mindful of being impatient while waiting in the Dr.s' office...I guess I should also stop being snarky when the Dr. only gives me a minute of his time after a long, long wait. Again you are a blessing.
I loved your "waiting" post today.
I just popped by to let you know that you and the entire P31 team are being prayed for as we get closer and closer to the SheSpeaks conference.
Thank you for being a willing servant.
Speaking of waiting...I'm counting down to SheSpeaks! Just wanted you to know that I am praying so hard for you, my friend, during this time of preparation. I pray it will be fruitful, healing, and filled with God's wonderful surprises!
luv,
laura
Haven't done too well in the waiting category. . . Made a financial decision that is bogging me. Will God use and forgive a "cracked" pot? A seasoned believer, I shouldn't have to learn this lesson over and over again. Please pray that somehow my trust in Him will increase and that I will decrease. Thank you for the devotion. How timely that you would write about waiting. You have helped bring focus to the perspective lense in my life.
Van, any words of hope?
Hello All,
I really am thankful that God led me to click on your blog after getting an email from Proverbs 31 for today. I am in a waiting mode for a couple of things and the analogy you used for waiting is awesome for me. I have been working out at the gym for 3 years. I went from a size 22 to a size 18 and can fit some 16's comfortably but not many! Talk about "WAITS"! I feel like giving up but something in me presses me. I know its God. I show up at the gym and I have a trainer 2 days a week as I shower I say God when will I be a size 9/10 again I will even settle Lord for an 11/12! I have also been waiting for my mate. I was divorced and it caused me great pain to end that relationship. It was even harder to put my husband out for cheating and today he's married to the young lady he cheated with. At the time she was 17 years old and I was 31. We had a daughter who was just 1 and 1/2 at that time and to have to let my daughter spend time with them almost took me over the edge. As I look back I can see that God used that to strengthen me and has increased my ministry. After going through all that I get a notice in the mail to appear in court. My ex now wants to decrease his child support to 148.00 down from 649.00 per month! He claims he isn't working and yet he has placed their son whose 2 years old in a private academy, bought a new truck, bought my daughter expensive gifts for her birthday which I am thankful for. God knows this is one of those times when I am counting on Him to show Himself strong on my behalf. Thanks for your blog and your articles they are soothing to my soul! J. S.
The longest of my own waits has got to be in waiting upon the Lord as it concerns the lives of my children. They are 38, 37 and 35 now and, while great citizens, they are long-walking in the world.
I used to wait wondering: How am I going to make it through this (whatever)?" It's now become: "What will I leave behind?"
Whatever our waits, may the Lord be glorified in them.
Kathleen
I have been praying for you and for the other team members getting ready for the She Speaks conference next week. Although I do write and I do sometimes speak, I won't be able to attend this meeting. But I look forward to hearing all about it.
I pray that God will bless each of you individually and as a group.
God bless you,
Marilyn in MS
Van:
First, forgive me for not getting here sooner! My life is one long waiting room right now...at least it feels that way. Summer is always my shock. It's taken us the better part of two weeks tot get into a groove. OK. Now...
I've read all your posts this week, and they couldn't have come at a more appropriate time in my life. Lots of light waits around here, but there have been a few heavy ones along the way. Funny, it seems the light ones are my constant trip up. When the heavy comes, I am quicker to realize that I have no where else to turn but to God.
Here's the breakdown for me...
I have hard time trusting God with the wait. I have hard time believing that he really is up to something good...my good. I look around me, and I am surrounded by his good, but there is a hungering for more...perhaps a selfish hungering at times. Like Paul, I want to learn the secret of simply being content in his presence, no matter the length of the wait.
Thank you for sharing your good thoughts in the matter. I look forward to hearing more from you in the days ahead.
peace~elaine
Hi Van - I have just enjoyed entering blog world (yes, much behind the times), and yours is one of the first I sought out. David is my 11 year old son...lol...I guess I need my own "identity." I was in your She Speaks small group two years ago (blond, five children) and wanted to let you know that I will be praying for you this weekend. I know many will be blessed by their weekend just like I was.
blessings on the journey,
Jen Schmidt
http://www.family-life-memories.com
I think this post is so timely. I just had a relative ask for prayer for restoration of her marriage. I am going to direct her to read your post.
Thanks for sharing!