Waiting for Your Chariot

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Welcome back to Truth Network. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. Cheryl, it is good to be back in the studio with you. It is so good to see your face, brother. And I hope that our listeners are enjoying this series with Suzy Erickson, specifically talking about her book, Barefoot Cinderella's.

Absolutely. In today's episode in our series, Suzy is joined by Salvation Army officer Anna Westmoreland. As we follow along in the book, we're now on Chapter 6, and I wanted to read a short section. It says, Waiting is difficult, almost impossible, particularly for a barefoot Cinderella who's used to being in control. It's gut-wrenching when something we want with all of our hearts is perpetually delayed. We pray for a spouse, for a new job, for a home, for a baby, for whatever is on our list of must-haves. But God works in the wait. He works behind the scenes to bring His plan for our lives to fruition in His time, for His purpose. Wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart. That's a scripture that we can claim.

I have been in the wait, particularly this year, in the transition between jobs for me. And God has proven Himself time and time again to be faithful. My wife and I were in a wait, trying to recover from a wake, a storm in our life, and God right there in the midst of it all.

We didn't necessarily see Him, and sometimes when we wanted Him, it felt like He wasn't there, but He never left us. And now as we look back on the quote-unquote wait, we see how He prepared us to come alongside other people in similar situations that our journey could be used to strengthen someone else's. That's powerful.

Very powerful. Yeah, you know, we've all been waiting during these last few months, haven't we? We've been put on pause. And it's like she writes in her book, waiting is difficult. It almost seems impossible while you're going through it. Yeah, 2020 can have itself back as far as I'm concerned.

And, you know, however COVID entered the world, I don't understand. But there have been great things that have come of it, of course. In talking to you and your husband, just having more time with your family, less time commuting. I've talked to a number of people that have said they've done more reading. Just sitting around the dinner table with family was important because in this day and age, we're always going 100 miles an hour, and we seldom take time to actually chew. You know, we're usually just swallowing our food and moving on kind of a thing.

Can you speak to that? Yeah, I mean, I've found myself being outside more and in the waiting, you know, enjoying what God has already given us. You know, and trusting for the future. You know, when you're waiting, you have that place. You give yourself a space to trust God for what's coming up instead of your mind always reeling or, you know, like you said, you're in this perpetual go, go, go, go, go. Sometimes we don't slow down enough to realize God is in the waiting. And I've seen some great photography from people that are doing some outdoor things where the environment in this waiting period has grown or has really just kind of been in a refreshing time.

Flourishing. A renewal time, yeah. And that's definitely part of it with God when we're in the wait. There's renewing that happens, maybe a renewing of the mind, renewing of our spirit. And I don't know about you, but whenever Susie has been in the studio, she has brought in like baked goods as well. And so she's been renewing my weight gain, which my wife is not happy about.

I hear you. Anyway, all this to say, I know that you're going to enjoy this conversation with Anna and we pray that it will be a blessing to you. Hi, my name is Susie Erickson, and I'm here today with Ann Westmoreland. And Ann and I met several years ago, really through her husband Bobby.

We knew Bobby and served with him in another time, in another place. But it's so good to be with her today here in the studio. We're in a different place in our world right now, aren't we? We are. It is a very different time in our world right now, but so many beautiful things too are coming out of things being different, causing us to think and reflect maybe in a different way.

Absolutely. I think that we have definitely been in a season of waiting. Waiting for jobs to open up, waiting for stores to open up, all the things that we're all just sitting waiting to happen. But in the midst of all of this waiting, I know in my own life, God has done so many incredible things.

He's brought me to a place of being still where I could really see life in a bigger picture. Well, waiting's difficult. We're in the midst of it now. And it is almost impossible for a barefoot Cinderella to wait because she's used to being in control and she's used to kind of going with that gut instinct of when to move forward and how to act. And so in the midst of all of that, it's gut wrenching when something you want with all of your heart is delayed. We pray for a spouse, for a job, for a home, for a baby, for whatever is on that list of must haves. But God works in the wait. And you've experienced that in your life.

You've had some seasons of waiting. And I would love for you to share some of that with us. I have, you know, and it is interesting to think about our desires because our desires, that's a prayer as well, isn't it, that God would give us His desires in our hearts.

Because sometimes we might have a desire for something or have an aspiration for something, but really that is not what God has for us. And I think that's where the trust comes in. And also the faith that God knows things, I don't know. He knows the full picture.

I just see a small part. And one time in our ministry, as Bobbi and I were ministering together as corps officers, we were approached about going overseas. And we, having the hearts for mission that we have, how could we say no to that, even though we had recently arrived at a corps that we loved and it was not an easy time to say, yes, we will do this, but we felt in our hearts we cannot say no, yes, we are willing to go. And we entered into a season of waiting while we were still in ministry where we were. We were thinking of, okay, what comes next? And very rarely do I do that because I'm a person, when I am somewhere, that's where I am.

I don't think about that I have aspirations for anything or desire. I just, I am where I am until God pulls me up and puts me somewhere else. But this was a unique situation and a week, a unique period of waiting because God put a heart, a love in our hearts for the people where we were going to this country. We were studying, we were learning many, many things about this country and God really put a love in our hearts.

And there were things that where we felt, well, we can't really start a whole lot of things here because we know that soon we are going to be going. But then it didn't happen. It got, for a reason that we did not know at the time, it got pulled off the table. It didn't happen and we weren't told many details. We were just told it's off the table. And that was a little bit of a hard time, but a time where we really just trusted God.

We were so thrilled to get to stay where we were because we loved it and we got many more years there. Yet we were wondering, what was that about God? Why did that happen?

What was that? And then it didn't take long actually. And then we realized, ah, because something actually tragic happened in the place where we were, where we would have been. And we saw God's hand. We saw, okay, we see it.

We see why God pulled that off the table. And that is just a reminder to me that sometimes when things do not happen the way that we desire or the way that we hope for, the way that we would like them to happen, there could be a reason that we don't even know. Sometimes we may see it. Sometimes we may see it years later. We may see that was why. But, you know, Suzy, sometimes I don't even think we get to maybe understand or see that.

Right. And I think we need to be okay with that. I've come to that point. There are things in my life that have not exactly gone the way that I had foreseen or wished or hoped for.

But I'm okay with that because what God has shown me and what He has, all the blessings He has poured over me, I could not even have imagined. So, you see, He knew better. He knows better.

He knows better. And He's always working ahead of us. You know, He's always preparing the way for us. He goes before us. And He prepares us for the journey that He has for us. God always is working for our good.

He is. And, you know, one of my favorite books in the Bible is the book of Habakkuk. I love it.

It's a short little book, three chapters. And it is Habakkuk, the prophet, and he has a complaint to God. Why are you allowing this injustice? Why are you allowing these things to happen?

Why are you not doing something? And God gives him a vision. And then he says, wait.

It will come to pass, but wait. And it is all a reminder of God's timing and holding on to what it is He has given us, but God knows best. And then at the very end of that book, Habakkuk rejoices in the Lord and he says, Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive fell, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers.

He makes me tread on my high places. And that is an amazing promise that I cling to. It is such an amazing promise of hope for us.

And what would you say today in these closing moments to someone who's in a place of waiting right now? I would say to cling to that promise that God, the joy of the Lord, first of all, is our strength. And the joy of the Lord is not dependent on any of our circumstances. The joy of the Lord is something that is deep within us because He lives within us. And that is what has sustained me through times of waiting in my life. It is the joy of the Lord, and it is the trust in Him. Letting go, knowing that He has a perfect plan for my life, even when there are twists and turns, it does not throw God off.

It doesn't. He is in it, and He is going ahead, and He has that perfect plan, and I cling to that. And that would be my advice to anyone in a season of waiting. The Salvation Army's mission, Doing the Most Good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support, and we'd love to hear from you. Email us at radioatuss.salvationarmy.org, call 1-800-229-9965, or write us at PO Box 29972, Atlanta, Georgia, 30359.

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