Waiting

October 14th, 2020

Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust

Waiting. We wait for the line to move. For the test results to come back. The right person to marry. A new job. For prayers to be answered. A life’s purpose to be revealed.

Having to wait is uncomfortable. It chips away at our patience, our hope, and our trust in the Lord’s provision. It’s easy to become dispirited and to lose hope as the clock ticks by.

In the Bible Study Waiting, author Sharla Fritz highlights eight biblical stories of women who also had to wait, often many years, for the things they hoped for. There’s Hannah, who was brought to despair while waiting earnestly to have a child. There’s the bleeding woman who endured 12 years of illness before Jesus healed her. And there’s the elderly Anna, who spent decades as a widow, seemingly without purpose, before witnessing the Baby Jesus brought to the Temple.

From these stories, we can learn how to wait well. That could mean letting go of our desires and giving God our dreams. Or knowing that in every difficulty and period of uncertainty, God is at work. When worry and anxiety overcome us, we draw nearer to Jesus, who accomplishes awesome things we didn’t even think to look for.

Ultimately, as Christians we are “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 1:21) Even if the things we wait for don’t happen in this life, Christ’s mercy is a sure thing.

It’s difficult to wait well. It’s something we can’t do on our own. But in all things, God gives us the strength to persevere.

Waiting: A Bible Study on Patience, Hope, and Trust can be checked out at the Church Library. Simply fill out the card in the back to take it home for up to two months. Make sure to look through the other great new materials now available at the library as well!

Happy reading,

Kaylin
Church Librarian

NEWEST BOOKS:
What Does Jesus Say? (A new kid’s book by our own Rebecca Belt!)
The Hammer of God (Fiction)
Misquoted: Rethinking Commonly Misused Bible Verses
The Spirituality of the Cross
Boldly Speaking: Sharing God’s Word Every Day
Demystifying the Proverbs 31 Woman
Faith that Sees Through the Culture

Life Together
(Arriving November) Provoking Proverbs: Wisdom and the Ten Commandments

MISSING IN ACTION:
We are missing three new library materials. If you have these, please let the church know. They are two booklets (God, I Need to Talk to You About Negativity; and A Simple Way to Pray). We are also missing the book Praying the Psalms with Luther.

HOW TO CHECK OUT A BOOK
Waiting and other new additions to the Church Library are currently available on a cart by the Sunday School office past the Fellowship Hall. Simply fill out the card located in the back of the book to check out a resource. Recommended check-out time is 2 months.

LOCATION
The Church Library is located by the Sunday School office and includes fiction and nonfiction titles, children’s books, Lutheran Witness magazines, A Simple Explanation booklet series, an audio Bible on CDs, music and DVDs, Arch and other kids books, plus a new Young Adult section!

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