If waiting were a place, it is a hard place to live! There are seasons in life when the ground beneath us feels unsteady. Sometimes we are waiting, longing for answers, praying for doors to open, aching for fulfilment. At other times, we are wandering, uprooted, restless, searching for home in a world that feels transient. Currently, I am waiting for my immigration papers so we can relocate to Canada. We sold our house in anticipation of our move, so we are now homeless and wandering from place to place.
Waiting stretches us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Wandering or being nomadic unsettles us. Yet neither are wasted, for in both God reveals his heart and his hand. Waiting is not silence abandoned. Wandering is not movement without purpose. In both, I realised that God carries his precious children. What am I learning in this season of waiting and wandering?
- Trusting God’s Timing and Leading
Abraham waited decades for a child, and though his body withered, God’s promise did not (Rom. 4:19–21). Israel wandered through the wilderness, led not by maps or milestones, but by a pillar of cloud and fire that refused to let them walk alone (Exo. 13:21–22). In waiting, God asks me to trust his timing. In wandering, he asks me to trust his leading and providing. Both remind me that my life is not governed by delay or direction, but by the one who holds all days and all journeys.
Reflective Question: Do we trust God enough to rest in his pace, even when every fibre of our being longs to run ahead?
- Purifying Desires, Stripping Away Illusions
Hannah’s years of barrenness drove her to prayer so raw it was mistaken for drunkenness (1 Sam. 1:13–16). In the wilderness, Israel learned daily dependence as manna fell one morning at a time, enough for the day but never to be hoarded (Exo. 16:4). Waiting reveals whether my heart longs more for God’s gift than for God himself. Wandering strips away false securities and shows me that I live not by my own provisions but by his mercy. In both, God clears the clutter of my soul until I learn that he alone is enough.
Reflective Question: If all else were stripped away, would God still be sufficient for us?
- Strengthening Faith by Teaching Me to Travel Light
Joseph’s long imprisonment was not wasted time; it was the crucible that shaped him for the palace (Gen. 41:41–43). Israel’s years in the desert were not meaningless wandering; they were training in resilience and obedience (Deu. 8:2–3). In waiting, God strengthens me for the weight of what is to come. In wandering, he teaches me to let go of what cannot be carried into the future. Both seasons prepare me, stretching faith, sharpening endurance, and freeing me from what weighs down the soul.
Reflective Question: What burdens are we still clutching that God is asking us to release so we can walk more freely?
- Carried by God’s Faithfulness
Moses reminded Israel, “The Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his child, all the way you went until you reached this place” (Deu. 1:31). Isaiah declared that those who wait on the Lord will rise on wings like eagles, lifted by strength not their own (Isa. 40:31). Whether in waiting or in wandering, the most breath-taking truth is this: I am not carrying myself. Every step I thought I stumbled through alone was upheld by his unseen hand. Every tear I thought unnoticed was caught by him. I am carried, not by my own resolve, but by his relentless faithfulness.
Reflective Question: When we look back on our journey, can we see the fingerprints of the God who carried us every step of the way?
Friends, waiting and wandering will always feel uncomfortable. They stretch us beyond our strength, shake our illusions of control, and strip us to what is most essential, but they are not wasted. They are the places where God teaches us to trust his timing, to rest in his provision, to travel lightly, and above all, to remember that we are carried.
I once thought waiting meant being forgotten, and wandering meant being lost. But now I see: both are seasons of being led by the faithful God who never lets go.
