In Good Company: Worth the Wait

"Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws." — Psalm 119:164

As December arrives and 2025 draws to a close, perhaps you're looking back on the year with mixed emotions. Maybe this wasn't the year you envisioned. The promotion didn't come. The relationship didn't heal. The dream didn't materialize. The prayer still feels unanswered.

If you find yourself still waiting, sister, you are in remarkably good company.

The Hall of Faith's Patient Hearts

Throughout Scripture, God's most faithful servants spent significant portions of their lives waiting:

Abraham waited 25 years between God's promise of a son and the birth of Isaac. Twenty-five years of hoping, doubting, and learning to trust when circumstances seemed impossible.

Joseph waited 13 years from receiving his dreams to seeing them fulfilled—13 years that included betrayal, false accusations, and a prison cell.

Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness before God called him to lead Israel. Four decades of preparation that must have felt like obscurity.

Jesus himself waited 30 years before beginning His public ministry. The Son of God, who came to save the world, spent three decades in a carpenter's shop.

And then there's Mary, whose story speaks so powerfully to the waiting heart.

Blessed Are Those Who Believe

When Elizabeth greeted Mary, she spoke words that echo through the ages: "Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!" (Luke 1:45). This is one of my all-time favorite verses. I always come back, asking myself, What do I believe?

Mary's blessing wasn't in the immediate fulfillment—it was in the believing while she waited. She carried the promise of God literally within her, yet even she had to wait for the fullness of what that promise meant.

An Anchor for the Waiting Soul

In our instant-gratification culture, waiting feels like punishment. We want answers now, breakthrough today, fulfillment by next week. But God's timeline operates differently than our Amazon Prime expectation (and I’m on Amazon all the time!).

Hebrews 6:19 offers this beautiful truth: God's promise is "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." An anchor doesn't eliminate the storm—it keeps you steady through it. God's promises don't always change our circumstances immediately, but they hold us secure while we wait. Whew…I started the year in one job and am ending it in a completely different one. Finding a new job, financial strain, and an autism diagnosis for my son were not on my bingo card this year. But God. 

Seven Times a Day

The Psalmist declared, "Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws" (Psalm 119:164). Seven times. Not once when things go well. Not occasionally when we feel like it. Seven times a day—a rhythm of continual praise even when we're still in the waiting room of unfulfilled dreams.

This December, what if we chose to praise God seven times a day for His faithfulness, even when we can't yet see the fulfillment? What if we trusted that His timing is as righteous as His promises?

The Company You Keep

If God has you waiting, dear one, look at the company you're keeping. You stand alongside Abraham, the father of faith. Besides Joseph, who became second in command of Egypt. Next to Moses, who led a nation to freedom. In the shadow of Jesus, who changed eternity.

Your waiting isn't wasted time—it's preparation time. It's character-building time. It's trust-deepening time.

And like Mary, you are blessed not because you've received everything you hoped for, but because you continue to believe that God will fulfill His promises to you.

As this year closes, perhaps the greatest act of faith isn't demanding answers but choosing to praise Him seven times a day while we wait. Because if history teaches us anything, it's this: what God promises, He delivers. And those who wait for Him are always in good company.

The wait is worth it. You'll see.

What promise are you still holding onto as 2025 ends? How might choosing to praise God "seven times a day" transform your perspective on the waiting?