When we have no idea what’s going on or what’s going to happen next, we can find our solid ground in the one who is the author of all things, who has a plan for our lives and well-being, and who promises to turn everything to good for His children, those who are “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). He provides grounding through the people of His church, all of whom He has woven together in the tapestry of our lives as the Body of Christ.
The Waiting Game
Are you like me? I experience the most stress in times of waiting—specifically in times of waiting ambiguously. Waiting for news. Waiting for details. Waiting for the next concrete steps of life that are, for whatever reason (name a given set of circumstances), zero percent specified and completely without form and void. Waiting for the something that is for sure coming but is basically out of my hands.
Yeah. Military moves are a bit like that. Want to guess what my family and I have been doing this month? You got it! We have been moving. We’ve traveled from one far coastal edge of the country to the other, passing through eleven states by car with two kids, a dog, and a bunch of luggage. Up until just a few weeks ago, we didn’t even know the specific job my husband would be doing (or with whom), our new mailing address, or what our next house and its community would be like. We knew which base we would call home and which military branch my husband would be serving as a chaplain, but nothing beyond that until almost the last minute. This is not uncommon, and I’m sure my discomfort with spans of ambiguous waiting is not rare among others in our situation either—but a lack of uniqueness does not negate the poignancy of the lessons from the experience.
Support and Service
During this particular limbo, I’ve had to confront my anxiety in the face of the unknown because there was simply nothing else to do about it. The beautiful part, though, is that I didn’t have to do it alone. While we waited for details and tried to plan our move somewhat blind, our church family gave us incredible support and love. As we traveled, we stopped for soul-hugging visits with family members and old friends along our route—people whom we might not have gotten to see again anytime soon, had the necessity of changing duty stations not been a key factor at play.
What a blessing all of this was in the first place! And what a way to pivot toward dwelling on the positive instead of stewing in worry over logistics or fretting about how everyone would handle the journey. It made me consider something really lovely, which is this: sometimes God puts people in our lives for what might seem like only a short time, but He may bring you back together down the road to lift one another’s spirits and to be an example of His earthside love for you.
There Are No Strangers in the Church
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19–22)
How can we flounder when we are grounded in Christ, are growing together, and consequently have one another’s well-being at heart?
The verse uses the imagery of a temple, but I also like to think of the concept as a tapestry. God’s plan is a thing of beauty, vastly intricate and mysterious, and we don’t ever get the whole picture; we are threads woven where He wills us (similar to the military, ha!), and we never know when our threads will cross again with others.
My takeaway from this experience has been threefold:
- “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God” (Isaiah 41:10). God knows our anxieties and shows up for us in our times of limbo through the actions of others.
- We should gladly and joyfully lean on those whose threads intersect with ours.
- We should treasure the gift of friendship and oneness we have in Christ so that we can be a landing place for others too.
In the end, worrying served me very little during this time, as is always the case. And when I let myself lean into the experience of being present with the people God has brought into our lives—not the least of which are my husband and daughters—and find my footing in the only one who is actually in charge, I enjoyed what turned out to be a grand adventure. Here’s to the new beginning!
Scripture: ESV®.
Discover God’s comfort for anxious thoughts in Take Heart, a Bible study from Lindsay Hausch.
