“God’s Way”, wait on the Lord… “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” (Ps 5.3)

We live in an age when instant gratification is promoted by retailers and pursued by consumers. The communications revolution has made it possible to achieve in seconds what would have previously taken days. The demand and expectation of faster delivery and immediate satisfaction applies to everything from ready food to doctors’ appointments. People just don’t want to wait.

Reading the Biblical account of “God’s plans and purpose’s for creation it is clear that the timing of events is not left to chance, neither is God’s timing measured according to our understanding of time “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” (2 Pet 3.8). God’s timing is neither fast nor slow, it is simply the right time “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Ecc 3.1).

In seeking to do his Father’s will, Jesus was acutely aware of God’s timing. When his mother approached him at the wedding feast at Cana he responded, “My time has not yet come” (John 2.4) and when others were going to the feast in Jerusalem he said, “You go to the Feast… for me the right time has not yet come” (John 7.8). Perhaps most poignantly, when he got the message that Lazarus was sick, Jesus did not go but waited two days, obedient to the Father’s prompting rather than human instinct. Waiting is not an idle state but is actually a time in which there is hidden activity, just as a tree waits for the right time to flower and bear fruit or a soldier waits to be called up for active service. The period of waiting is usually a time of preparation, of nourishment, growth and development. Paul describes the whole of creation waiting for God’s plans to be fulfilled as being like a pregnant mother. He declares, “That is why waiting does not diminish us… We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” (Rom 8.22-25. The Message).

What the Lord has been doing in my life in my department is awesome. To begin with the children’s department where am present at was never in any of my four choices of internship so the day I was assigned to go there was like a big slap to me I cried for two hours, all I wanted to do was go back home, but somewhere inside I knew God called me to be at RBI for three years. So after prayers I said to myself, Lord I trust you and I trust the authority that you have placed over me. I also know they prayed and they heard from you and I trust the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Then the Lord immediately asked me, “Can you remember how many times you have prayed this  prayer I will go where you want me I will do what you want me and I will say what you want me to say?” I said yes lord, then he said why do you find it difficult to accept I am the one sending you to kids church? I said because my passion is winning souls so I want to be in outreach. Then the Lord said to me if you can win the souls of little children then you can win the souls of all men.  I can tell everyone that working with kids is one of the most humble things one can do, it is life changing. Because of all the things I have been through in life I have always been so hard on myself, on my son and people around me but working with these kids, looking into their beautiful faces and listening to their sweet voices gives me life every day. I see so many mistakes I did in bringing up my son and now I have a better relationship with my son than before and even a greater desire to be transformed just like these little children.  I love working in kids’ church.

–Valentina