Yesterday I opened my devotional, Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young and these words leaped from the page:

Waiting for me to work, with your eyes on me, is evidence that you really do trust me. If you mouth the words “I trust you” while anxiously trying to make things go your way, your words ring hollow. Hoping is future-direction, connecting you to your inheritance in heaven. However, the benefits of hope fall fully on you in the present. Because you are mine, you don’t jus tpass time in your waiting. You can wait expectantly in hopeful trust.

That led me to John 14:12 (The Message)

Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it.

Something special happens when we trust in God. Because we are no longer counting on ourselves to do the task, or make things happen, or waiting for the “if onlys” to drop into place, we move out of striving into active trust in God, and what takes place is “greater”.

As we wait, we:

Grow spiritually

Stop striving

Depend on God

Listen to God

Close out the distractions that pull at us

And at the end of the wait we emerge with the realization that God is greater, more powerful, more insightful, and that waiting wasn’t a dry period, but an active period–part of the plan where God shows us how to lean not to our own understanding.

What greater things does God have for you and me in the wait?

What greater things have emerged after the wait for you? Share your story. Encourage someone else today.