nothing wasted.

Sometimes it’s easy to fall into the trap that this is all for nothing.

Six “failed” pregnancies.

Being pregnant on repeat with no evidence of baby.

It’s just so easy to feel like giving up. Like it’s all pointless. Like I’ll never actually see any good from this.

I assume I’m not the only one who feels this way. Your situation probably isn’t recurrent miscarriage (or maybe it is). But we are all going through something.

And sometimes it seems pointless. All for not.

But you know what?

That’s not true.

Romans 8:28 says:

And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Sometime’s God’s good is something we don’t see yet. But that doesn’t mean that what we are going through is pointless.

Sometimes…it’s the entire point.

The journey. The wilderness. The meandering.

It may just be the whole point.

It reminds me of last weekend. My son, Oli, and I were going on a play date at his best friend Brady’s house. I don’t know if you’ve ever been around toddler best friends, but they are OBSESSED with each other.

Anyways. The plan was that Oli and I were going to grab lunch, Brady and his mom were going to pick up a few things from the Home Depot, and we would meet at their house.

Picking up lunch ended up being much faster than shopping at Home Depot, so Oli and I were left with some time to kill. We spent our time just driving up and down the road waiting for Brady’s mom to text us that she was ready.

Wandering. Driving aimlessly. Waiting for the playdate.

Roughly every 12 seconds (that’s a generous estimate), Oli would say something like, “Mom when are we going to Brady’s?” Each time he asked the question, my answer was always the same. “We will go to Brady’s when they get home, buddy.”

You would think eventually get the hint. We WERE going to Brady’s house, and soon….just not at that exact second.

Now, this “time wasting” didn’t last very long. Fifteen minutes at best. But Oli just kept on asking about going to Brady’s house. I’ll embarrassingly admit that I was getting really frustrated with him.

I ended up raising my voice saying something like, “Oliver Joseph! We are going to Brady’s house in just a minute! We can’t go over there until they are ready, and they just aren’t quite ready yet!”

And then it hit me.

I am just like my three-year-old.

Sometimes I get so worried with the waiting, with the journey, with the wilderness, that I forget that God really does know what He’s doing.

I find myself constantly questioning God. Wanting to rush the waiting period so I can just get on with things.

But our trip up and down the road wasn’t pointless. It wasn’t a waste of time. It was giving Brady and his mom time to prepare for us. So that when they were ready, we would have a good playdate.

The same goes for my current situation. And your current situation.

I don’t know what you’re waiting for. Maybe it’s a baby, a job, a life change, or something else completely.

But the waiting is not for nothing. It’s not being wasted.

Your trip “up and down the road” is allowing God to prepare the good that is coming for your life. Like it says above in Romans, God works for the good of those who love him.

It never says that God works in a certain time-frame for those who love him, or that God works things out the way we expect because we love him. But it does say that however things end up, it will be GOOD.

So now, as I am still in my waiting, wandering, driving up and down the road period, I will choose to trust that God knows what He is doing. That He is currently preparing the good that is to come. I will focus on worshipping, serving, and loving while I wait.

Because the good is coming, I just have to wait for it.