Our Personal "Advent" Season

I just received a significant revelation from the Lord this week that has so blessed me and will change the days ahead for me, I expect, and the way I approach prayer.

I have so enjoyed the Advent season this year, as I do every year; the time of waiting, watching and anticipating the celebration of Christmas day. I've mentioned before how much I love the lights, the decorations, the music and other trappings of the "season." I always get my shopping done early so I can just "enjoy" this time of year. I love just relaxing at home on a cold winter's night, enjoying the sparkling lights on my tree, reflecting on the birth of Jesus and watching Christmas movies that have happy endings. I love happy endings!!

And this season, too, has a happy ending. All our anticipating, waiting and watching culminates in the celebration of the birth of Jesus, our Savior, the one who has come to save us from our sin and from ourselves. He comes with a promise and it's because we know that, that our season of waiting is so full of joyful anticipation - we know that our hope will be fulfilled!

Well, the other day, during my time of Advent devotional, the Lord gave me revelation in terms of all other waiting periods in my life.

If you are like me, there are things that you have been praying for for a very long time and you long, truly long to see God move in answering those prayers. Whether it's for a loved one's salvation, a healing, a prodigal child, a promised promotion or raise, a change in your heart or behavior, deliverance from a besetting sin, we continue to cry out to God for His intervention. Sometimes we pray with hope in our heart and trust that God hears and answers, but sometimes we cry out in frustration wondering why God seemingly doesn't hear or care about our pleadings.

What if....?

What if we embraced the answer to our prayer like it was a done deal and began to live in Advent (a waiting season) of this promise?

What if we could wait in joyful expectation, just as we do at Christmas time, anticipating, waiting and watching, believing the promise is in our future?

What if we could enjoy the "trappings" of this "season" right where we are at? Enjoy what God is doing in our hearts as a result of the time of waiting? Enjoy the "lights", the "music", the "decorations" God is "putting up" in our hearts, during this, our personal "Advent" season?

Jeff Goins asks this - "What if we fell in love with the in-between times, relishing instead of resenting them?"


Scripture tells me that God hears and answers my prayers, therefore, I need to live in the assurance that His Word is true and wait in joyfulness, anticipating how and when He is going to move!

When we are in a state of waiting, God is moving!! He's at work in our hearts; what if we embraced what He is doing even when we can't see it? What if we just believe it?

"Waiting is not always a bad thing; it can bring its own joy - the thrill of anticipation."  David Jeremiah

Just as our hearts are filled with anticipation during the Advent season, we need to embrace the waiting in our own personal advent with anticipation and expectancy in our hearts and the wonderment of how and when God will answer our prayers!

Because, surely He will!!