“Miss Grady! Miss Grady! Jimmy didn’t drink his milk again” came the tattling voices of three kids in my first-grade class. So, we all waited and waited for what seemed like hours, for little Jimmy to drink his milk before we could go out to recess. Poor kid probably hated milk.

I remember waiting for the bell to ring to go home. I waited through those long months for school to be out for the summer, but waiting for Christmas was the hardest of all for me as a child. 

As I got older, I waited to drive a car, to graduate, and to be married; I waited for children to be born and I waited as they grew up and had babies.

Waiting seems to be what we do a lot of in this life, but some of the hardest times are waiting for God to answer prayer.

The book of 1 Samuel, in the Old Testament, tells of a woman named Hannah who waited and waited for a baby. She prayed, as many women do even today, to get pregnant. Back in the early bible times, a woman’s “job” was to have many children for her husband and yet Hannah’s womb was closed. So for many years, she waited!  

The bible says, on an annual trip to the temple, she was deeply troubled; she prayed out of deep anguish, and she prayed out of the depths of her heart. I have been there many times and even now my heart is heavy as I, like Hannah, wait for answers to prayer. Waiting is hard when someone you love needs healing, when salvation is needed or when relationships desperately need to be reconciled.

In God’s great timing and his miraculous way, Hannah gave birth to Samuel, who grew to be a great man of God who lead Israel for many years.  

I’m confident that in God’s time, He will miraculously answer my prayers.  So, I continue to wait and pray.  

Psalm 130:5-6 says:
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” (NIV) 

Psalm 27:13-14 :
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (NIV)

Isaiah 30:18:
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (NIV)

And my favorite, Isaiah 40:31:
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (KJV)

Jeanie Nihiser
But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31