A Season of waiting
Depending on what website you look at, the average person spends anywhere from 6 months to five-years waiting for something or someone. We wait in traffic for lights to change from red to green, we wait in grocery store lines to check out, we wait on the phone for our appointments, we wait a lot, like a lot.
Are you in a season of waiting now? Waiting for results from a medical test or from a job interview? Are you waiting on someone to “figure it out?” What about for your situation to change for the better?
PTSD is mind-boggling to say the least. It impacts how we are able to wait, but what must be noted is - we all have to wait on something or someone, and often times we cannot control how long we wait - HOWEVER, we can learn how to wait, and what we do in the waiting.
Psalm 40:1-2 in the New King James Version says this,
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.
I might be the worst person to talk about waiting, especially when my head is full of fog and my world appears to be closing in on me, I don’t wait well. But the Psalmist here says he was able to wait patiently not only on the LORD, but for the LORD.
He waited for the direction, timing and response from the LORD. The LORD delivered David from the very hand of his enemies.
The Psalmist also says - “The LORD inclined to him and heard his cry. The vivid picture of our amazing God inclining Himself to meet my needs is powerful. Why would He do that? Here is the brief response, ‘He loves us.’
He lifted David out of a horrible pit and set him in a firm place on a firm foundation.
God established his footsteps.
David was praising the LORD for deliverance. When we walk through a foggy valley, it may be difficult in the haze of PTSD to see the deliverance which will come our way. We have to learn to go through a season of waiting on the LORD, and only in that season can we find a lasting hope and peace in our trials.
I know that some of you reading this blog are not Christians, but it is imperative to understand that the Lord has come to set us free. He came to set us free from our sins and from the law which brings spiritual and eternal death, but He also came to set us free from our bondage, our afflictions, our addictions, and things that hold us captive in our minds - such as traumatic events and unsettling brokenness we carry around like luggage. Do you know what I mean?
I was talking with someone today about a traumatic event, and they were re-experiencing the event as if it were just happening. It sounded horrible, and I was able to place myself in their position because I also know a little about living in the trauma as if it were happening for the first time.
How do we get out of this pattern? We must first realize that when trauma happens, it happens to the whole person, the mind, soul, body, spirit - all of us. It is physiological as much as spiritual, although I believe that the spiritual nature is more vital and plays a substantial part in healing for those who struggle with mental illness or mental health issues on any level.
Larson and Larson (2003) have written an article and address this.
“Longitudinal studies of community samples consistently find links between active spiritual/religious involvement and increased chances for living longer, pointing to the relevance of spirituality/religion as a potential health factor. For a large proportion of either medically ill or mental health patients, spirituality/religion may provide coping resources, enhance pain management, improve surgical outcomes, protect against depression, and reduce risk of substance abuse and suicide.”
Are you finding this is true in your season of waiting? We are all waiting. I am waiting on the Lord to see how He will deliver me from depressive tendencies and PTSD. He has already delivered me from so much, and I know that He is faithful, unchanging. My thoughts are deceptive, my moods fluctuate, my mind races at times and intrusive thoughts enter in. God is the only unchanging constant in my life, and He is faithful in His thoughts, His character, His ways. I trust in Him during such seasons of waiting and am still learning to trust Him. He will incline to me and hear my cries and petitions for help! He has already delivered me, and set my feet upon the Rock of Ages - Jesus Christ.
Are you in a season of waiting? Learn to wait well, and for the Lord. He is listening.
Larson, D. B., & Larson, S. S. (2003). Spirituality's potential relevance to physical and emotional health: A brief review of quantitative research. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 31(1), 37-51.