Prayer and Worship

Years ago I was blessed with wisdom shared by a young girl, now a beautiful, godly young woman. She shared that "God always answers prayer—either yes, no, or not now." I believe she was 8 or 10 years old at that time—what wisdom for one so young! Many times I've had to remind myself of her well-spoken truth, and many times, I've had to accept His "no's" along with His "not now's".

Lately, I've been waiting through a long period of "not now" in relation to some of life's most troublesome issues. Issues that I would never wish upon another person, but unfortunately, many share in similar troublesome issues.

In September, Provident Films (creators of Facing the Giants and Flywheel) released their latest film, Fireproof. My enjoyment of their previous films, as well as my belief that marriage is sacred and should have the time and energy put into it that is required to be successful led me to see the movie the day it was released. I was so blessed by the music, as well as the music that was featured in the film.

Please pardon a tangent, but I grew up a devoted Country music fan. You might say I was "country when country was uncool." I spent my high school and college days listening to country and classic rock, which merged with light rock and smooth jazz in the early 90's. In the mid 90's I was introduced to KSBJ, a listener-supported station in Houston, Texas. My limited exposure to Contemporary Christian music (Amy Grant and the Imperials) grew into a passion for the genre. When I moved to Utah, I was "lost" musically, until I found K-LOVE, another listener-supported station out of Sacramento, CA, with translators in the Salt Lake City, and then Cache Valley, areas, as well as across the country. During the course of listening to those two stations, I became a huge fan of artists such as the late Rich Mullins, Twila Paris, Caedmon's Call, DC Talk, the Newsboys, and the list goes on and on! I first heard of Mercy Me during the last weeks of my father's life, completely relating to I Can Only Imagine, as I imagined my father's soon passing. So many of the songs within the genre today have such deep healing messages.

And that's what led to this post. As I mentioned, I was moved by the music in Fireproof, much of it I was already familiar with, and I even thought of one song that should have been included in the film, but was not. However, I was also introduced to a new song, by a new artist, which led to my purchase of his first CD. This artist is John Waller, and his CD is The Blessing. Amazingly, when I first listened to the CD, I realized that I was familiar with some of the songs. The song that was featured in Fireproof, and the one that speaks the loudest to me during this "not now" time of my life is While I'm Waiting.

Here are the lyrics to this song:

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Takeing every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

While I absolutely love this song, I have to say that the entire CD is filled with the most wonderful praise and worship songs I've heard in a long time! Maybe it's where I am in life right now that draws me so to this artist's music, but I truly believe that this man has been given words of truth and a talent to present them in a way that is healing for so many. So my thanks to the Lord for gifting this man, and to John Waller for being willing to be a vessel for His light!

By the way, the young lady I mentioned at the beginning of this post, well, she's all grown up now. A beautiful young woman married to a fine young man. And the two of them are very visibly doing marriage God's way. What a beautiful reflection of His love when I see the two of them!