Stand Still and See the Miracles Happen

The experience of waiting is often viewed as a passive and unexciting one, yet I want to assure you that this is most certainly not so. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Laws and a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law, and traveling to see more of the world and gain some international work experience, I now find myself in what I believe to be the “waiting season of life”, hoping to find a job that will provide me with the opportunity to pursue justice and help people.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have been called “the manager” due to my natural take-charge attitude. Now, however, I am being challenged to be still and wait, and learn to balance my natural go-getter personality with the new “waiting expectantly” attitude. Whether I was reading the Bible, listening to a sermon, receiving a prophecy, or just simply thinking and meditating, I always received the reassuring and encouraging message to “wait and trust Me, I will bring the right opportunities and people into your life.” Therefore, on this promise, my soul waits silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him, knowing that the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him (Psalm 62:5; Lamentations 3:25).

While I was waiting and trusting God, I received an e-mail from the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) in Geneva asking me to undertake a traineeship with them. I did not even apply for that traineeship; therefore, the first thought that came into my mind was that trusting God to bring the right opportunities to me works! It was when I finally stopped chaotically chasing everything, hoping to catch something, and started to wait expectantly and trust God that He opened the door of a new opportunity for me. Two weeks later, I was training with the WEA, a permanent representation to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland. 
WEA is a global ministry working with local churches around the world to join in common concern to live and proclaim the Good News of Jesus in their communities. The WEA network works to give a worldwide identity, voice, and platform to evangelical Christians. The organization achieves this through seeking holiness, justice and renewal at every level of society. I was responsible for writing reports on the human rights situation in Democratic Republic of Congo and Kazakhstan, for the submission to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR is a process that involves a review of the human rights situation of all UN Member States and it provides the opportunity for each State to explain what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries. The reason why the WEA submits reports to the UPR is to address human rights violations in countries under review and give recommendations to the governments of these countries on how to improve their human rights situation. Another reason for these reports and their follow-ups is to inform the churches on what their government says it will do and what it actually does to improve their human rights situation. WEA strongly believes in the power of churches, God’s children, to make a change in their country; but first they need to be well informed.

I asked God to bless my time in Geneva and help me make the most of it. I prayed that He would put me into contact with people who needed Him, who needed to be encouraged and (re)connected to Him. It was very humbling for me to experience how God used me, with all my imperfections, to introduce Him to others and to tell people about His unconditional love and forgiveness. I used my personal experiences to explain to my new friends how God speaks to me and what He has done in my life, and that He can do the same for them.

You might be thinking that you are where you are in life to do one thing, but God may be using you in so many other ways that you might not even be aware of! I thought I was in Geneva just to write reports, but I ended up meeting interesting people and having significant conversations about Christ, which changed their perspectives on life and Jesus.

Waiting should always be accompanied by prayer and the expectation that every day you are getting closer to God and to what He has prepared for you, while noticing and enjoying His miracles in the present. I encourage you to stand still and consider the wondrous works of God (Job 37:14). Pray that not one miracle He does in your life goes unnoticed, because every single thing that you notice God doing allows you to experience His presence and to increase your faith and trust in Him. Waiting is a period in which you can rest in Christ, order your thoughts, and pay attention to what God is doing in you, around you and through you. It takes courage and determination to wait expectantly; therefore, waiting is an active act where you constantly need to set your mind on God’s promises! Hold on to the promise that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint; therefore, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him (Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 37:7). Waiting is not a period of “doing nothing”. In this waiting season of my life, I do look for vacancies and apply for jobs, but I do not stress about the economic crisis or the lack of (paid) jobs in my chosen field of human rights. I believe that God is faithful to those who wait on Him and that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Your Heavenly Father is well able to make a way where there seems to be no way, and even to make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert (Isaiah 43:19). Now therefore, stand still and see the great things the Lord is about to do before your eyes! (1 Samuel 12:16)