WORTH THE WAIT

(Post by: Madie Hobbs) Blogmas Day Thirty-One 2024

Here we are again. The week between Christmas and New Year’s when you can hardly remember what day it is, too many leftovers are sitting in the fridge, and the new possessions you received on the 25^th are taking up their permanent residences around your domain.

We’ve come to the day where we sit, perhaps precariously, on the precipice of a New Year.

If you’re anything like me, you consider this day the most daunting of both the previous and the upcoming year. The older I get, the more terrifying this day becomes. 2025 is already full of so many moments, and whether they are mainly good or bad is entirely unknown, and I often find myself mourning rather than celebrating today.

One of the craziest things about 2024 is that it was simultaneously both the worst and best year of my life. I entered adulthood last January without, it seemed, a thread of what had constituted my childhood life left intact. I was entering a period of my life where so many bad things had happened, and I now had to deal with the aftermath. I had to learn what to do in the middle of a battlefield after the shots had ceased but the damage had been done. That’s one of the scariest parts about big life events, especially when they are inclined toward sorrow. It is not the event itself which is often so terrifying, but rather the daily life following it, in which nothing remains the same, but you are expected to be.

But while my old life often seemed as though it could never be replaced with something better, a new life did come, and with it loveliness arrived. I spent a marvelous summer with friends and people I loved, while experiencing new emotions and experiences. I read good books and listened to great music. I bathed in sunlight and admired the rain. I laughed and cried. I did things that scared me but that brought incomparable happiness.

It has been a year of duality. Though I confess, I would not be upset if 2025 were a bit more consistent.

As I have grappled with these physical things which have happened, I have also taken the time to consider how my spiritual life has changed over the last year.

At the beginning of 2024, reliance on God felt necessary for my literal survival. It was a potent and almost tangible need which felt easy to give in to. As the months wore on, and I was called into what I hoped would be a new, lasting season, I would tell anyone who asked that I felt closer to Jesus than I ever had before as I walked with obedience into a new stage of life. What I felt would last did not, and I was thrust into a place where I felt, and even still feel sometimes, at odds with the God who brought me into that situation. It raised questions in me I hadn’t felt the need to ask before, it raised doubts, but most importantly it raised a crossroads.

I knew I either had to choose trust or desertion.

Would the God I trusted my whole life lead me into a year of chaos, uncertainty, and excruciating emotional pain just to toy with my heart? He certainly never had before. Would the God I know to be consistent speak falsely to me or allow me to open myself up to something entirely without purpose? Not if He was the same God I have always known.

I chose trust. I still, every day, minute by minute, choose trust, though sometimes it is extremely difficult as I go without sight of the fruit from my agony.

On Sunday, the Lord confirmed to me I made the right decision.

As we entered into a time of worship at church, we sang a new song called “Worth the Wait” by Phil Wickham, which is supposed to mainly be a Christmas song, but which I think applies year-round. While I focused on the words and sang along, we came to one verse which for some reason struck me to my core. My eyes welled up with tears so completely I couldn’t even actually see the words anymore, and I found myself unable even to use my voice because of all the emotion forming a lump in my throat.

Here are the few lines which impacted me:

He will heal all the broken

Take back what the enemy has stolen

With the fire in His eyes and freedom in His name

Oh, Jesus, you are worth the wait.

While I have grappled with trying to take back so much of what the enemy has stolen, I have often wondered if there will ever be a reward after heartbreak. I ask the Lord every day what all of this was for. What could I possibly have to learn which must be taught through such painful means?

But He reminded me that Jesus is always worth the wait.

Though I may feel as though I am being forced to wait too long, to undergo too much, to endure unnecessarily, Jesus is worth the wait.

So, on this both terrifying and exciting day, where we stand in between time, I will encourage you with this. Jesus is worth the wait. It may feel as though you have gone through something entirely unnecessary or unproductive. He is still worth the wait. You may be caught, as I was, in a place between trust and desertion. He is worth the wait. You may wait for an excruciatingly long time; I won’t lie to you about that. But Jesus is worth the wait.

As we enter this new year together, though it may be littered with uncertainty and we may feel trepidation, what awaits us may in fact be beauty, respite, and life.

Whatever lies ahead, we shall face the growing dawn with clean swords, thick armor, and hearts confident in one thing.

Jesus is worth the wait.