We spend hours of each day waiting. Waiting for the bus. Waiting for the elevator. Waiting for the microwave to cook our leftover spaghetti.

In this day and age, these instances are some of the longest we have to wait for. Everything is so instant, that I think many of us have forgotten the art of waiting. Everyone wants everything instantly and I think it has changed the way many Christians today view God.

We pray to God and expect immediate results, but, most of the time, that's just not how it works. God has His own timing. We may want something right away, but God needs us to wait until the timing is right. While this often doesn't make sense in our minds, God sees the bigger picture and knows what we need and when we need it.

This expectation for instant gratification has many Christians frustrated and doubting the goodness of God. I think that instead of becoming angry when God doesn't provide right away, we need to have a mindset that allows us to be patient and trust in the perfect plans of God. I must admit, this is hard to do.

Maybe you're praying for companionship or healing or help and see no results. I have felt this way. A lot. I pray and pray, asking God for something I want so desperately and nothing seems to happen. This is incredibly frustrating. Despite this, I encourage all of us not to lose hope or give up on God. He has a plan. It may not be your plan, but it's a perfect plan.

This trust in times of waiting can even be applied to a bigger picture. Not only do we need to wait on the Lord in our individual lives, but also in the context of the whole world. God promised to come again and create a new heaven and a new earth.

Sometimes it seems that the second coming can't come fast enough. When life is at it's worst, our souls long to rest in Jesus and it is here that we have to be patient too. Jesus is coming again, but we have to wait on Him and His timing.

Psalm 27:14 says: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

That's it. "Be strong and take heart". It is easy to lose hope while waiting on God, but that's the most important part. We have to hold on to the hope that God will give us what we need in His perfect timing. It is this God-given hope that will get us through the days of un-answered prayers and the times of longing to be in heaven with Him. So while it would be easy to lose hope and give up on God, don't! God has a plan.

He has always had a plan.

So take a deep breath and keep praying. Pray for peace, and hope, and above all, patience to deal with the sorrows of this life and the things we want to be fixed right away. Some things take time. So take heart and wait on Him.