By Victoria Ostrosky
We are an impatient people. We want everything now. Fast food, lightning-fast internet speed, faster computer processors. Waiting isn’t on our list of things we want to do anymore. We want what we want when we want it.
But God, as we know full well, has no problem with waiting for the right time as He orchestrates and trains His child to be ready to receive what was promised. Abraham and Sarah waited 25 years for Isaac, after God gave them the promise. David waited 15 years before taking the throne, after he was anointed by Samuel.
Our lives contain only so many years, so we grasp for what we want. But God is never in a hurry. His timing is perfect, and since He lives outside of time itself, He isn’t constrained by it. Andrea Ward wanted something with all her heart, and she knew it was a desire that God had placed there. It seemed like the fulfillment of that desire would never arrive. But in due time, God brought her dream to fruition.
In her mid-twenties, Andrea was engaged to be married. Her plan fell apart when her fiancé abandoned her two months before the wedding. Shaken to her core, she said “what am I going to do? I’m nothing without him.” That’s when God showed her that He was all she needed. Andrea became actively involved in church again, and one Sunday her pastor spoke about the desire of your heart, and Andrea had to admit that she didn’t know what that was. She spent some quiet time hiking in Arizona, communing with her Heavenly Father, and He showed her what her heart’s desire was. It was to be a mother.
She began to pray every day for a child, a baby girl, and the years slowly ticked by. Five years, then ten years, then more time went by. She contacted an adoption agency and was told she would need to be prepared for a long wait. She put in an application, and nine months and one day later, her daughter was born. Her daughter’s biological mother actually chose Andrea to adopt her baby.
Andrea was 44 years old when her heart’s desire was fulfilled. She figured out that what she thought was a delay, was God making her ready. Andrea cherishes every single moment together with her daughter. “I don’t take anything lightly.”
“I know she is truly a gift from God.” Andrea had prayed for a baby girl for 17 years. “Waiting on God isn’t easy, but I believed for God to fulfill the desire of my heart.” She recalls that verse in I Samuel, “For this child I have prayed”, spoken by Hannah, Samuel’s mother, another woman who prayed for a child. As Andrea says, the scripture doesn’t tell us how many years Hannah waited or how many tears she cried, but we know she trusted God in the journey.
“Our human nature doesn’t allow us to be perfect and understand God’s will. Digging into God’s word and praying, and seeking out community that will lift you up, is important.”
Every day Andrea and her daughter give thanks to God. She is teaching her daughter about praying to grow in her faith as she encounters bumps and pits in the road. All through the centuries God’s people have had to wait while He prepared them to receive what He had for them. It’s not if we will wait, but how we wait that matters.
Andrea wants to encourage us to seek God in the wait. “Always look up. Don’t go to others when you face adversity. Face it on your knees.”
You can hear Andrea’s entire story and listen to many other incredible interviews on the weekly Road to Redemption radio show and podcast at www.roadtoredemptionpodcast.com.
Author: SWal Life
Views: 7
