Why "The Waiting Space" ?

          During worship one morning the Lord led me to Psalms 62:5, which reads “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.(NLT)” Honey! I can’t even put into words what that scripture did and to this day still does for me. From then on, the word “Wait” began ringing in my spirit. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the Lord wanted me to “wait” on, but I knew it meant something to and for me. A few weeks later, February 14th (Valentines day) a friend of mines, who I happen to be celebrating the holiday with because we were both single (hair flip) brought me a gift, a ring to be specific.  Opening the box what l I originally saw was a silver ring, but as I looked at it more, I saw engraved on the ring read,  “Wait.” When I tell you I was so tickled, overjoyed, thankful, surprised, moved and just in awe, not only because her gift was perfect in its timing but because here we are yet again, with this word “wait.” Can I keep it all the way 100? I had never even shared the scripture with her prior to the gift. While the ring was given to me as a form of accountability and as a reminder to keep pressing until different seasons come, the word began to mean that much more to me. 

        For weeks after I wrestled with the term, “wait.” ( I mean I was really asking the Lord at different times, randomly--what am I waiting on Lord?)  As I continued to read the scripture and inquire with the Holy spirit,  I began to receive it as direction. “Let ALL that I am…” I’m controlling, I’m bossy, I’m independent, I’m impatient, I’m driven, I have goals I want to meet and deadlines that I’ve set that I need to meet them, I have feelings, I’m working on my emotional health, my mental health, my physical health and my spiritual health, I am single wanting to be married some days and wanting to continue in my single season on others, I am a student, I am an educator, I’m a best-friend, I’m a sister, a daughter, I am an employee, I am empty some days and overflowing on others, I am sad sometimes, and overjoyed others, I am encouraged, in need of encouragement, sometimes the encourager…Let ALL that I am wait quietly before God. Oh, so you want me to come to you with every part of me in a posture of waiting Lord? You want me to present every part of me, all of me before you, not as is, but quietly? But isn't this the place that I can come as I am? Isn't this the safe place for me to come and complain, to whine, to be myself?

         Then the scripture goes further to say: for my hope is in Him.

       I hollered, I cried, I still cry..when I hear this scripture because when you begin to think about what you are really made up of. When you begin to take a moment and peel back layers of who you are. Let all that I am…wait quietly.... my God! There is a demand of reverence here..... So then it hit me, waiting is a posture, waiting is a mentality, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a decision. Waiting is a command. Could you believe that waiting even requires strength and discipline? When we think of waiting it usually comes off as a very rested place, put your bags down and chill type of posture. Here however, waiting is to be upright, in expectance, and also strong enough to deny your flesh how it feels and to wait totally depending on the Lord because it is in Him that your hope is. 

          I began to ask God, what am I suppose to do with this? And then it hit me: because waiting is a posture, because it is a lifestyle, and when you think about it, it is something we are ALWAYS doing. "I am waiting on a call back from the job I had an interview with, I am waiting for him to propose, I am waiting to move on from this heart break that has taken longer than I had imagined, I am waiting for the hurt to pass, I am waiting to become pregnant which then is me waiting on motherhood, I am waiting to become a dad, I am waiting to become a husband, I am waiting to be a full fledge entrepreneur I am waiting to graduate, I am waiting to be noticed, I am waiting to move, I am waiting to leave" (Can you see yourself in any of those?) etc, I heard, “Encourage people, and show people how to wait. What should our posture be when waiting on God? What should we be doing? What should it look like when we are in the mean time in between time of waiting? Isn’t waiting a decision? And doesn’t how we wait make all the difference when its time to be elevated or exposed to the “next” thing?

        Originally when I was picking my websites name I thought I wanted it to be, “the waiting room” I was thinking of like a house with several rooms, and before you’re welcomed into the many different rooms you’re usually asked to wait.(Depending on whose house it is, it could be because they want to tidy up or hide some things *side eye*) However,  how are you waiting there? You’re expecting to be seen at some point right? What you would NEVER want is the person you're waiting on to find you sleeping, or looking bored, or to over hear you complaining etc. Right? 

       But then "waiting room"wasn’t a go, and God began to further my thinking, waiting room is limited to one room, and it also gives the impression that everyones waiting in the same place, for the same things---that isn’t true. No matter where you are in the house or in the building STILL you are waiting. I may be waiting to get where you are, while you’re waiting to get to where someone else is, and from my stance you’ve arrived, and from where you are--- you have not. (Read that again, that was a mouth full) So waiting room, limits our capacity of desires. Out of this the waiting SPACE was birthed. [Also, with the tossing of ideas with my sisters and the unfolding of the words]

       I pray in this blog you can find yourself, that you are encouraged, and the your posture changes dramatically wherever you are and  in whatever it is that you're waiting for.

Xoxo, 

Alicia Elizabeth

       Who better to wait on than God? -Picture taken at Columbus Ohio's Franklin Park      Conservatory, during their butterfly exhibit.- I'm, pretty sure I was "waiting" to cool off. (Smile)