16. Eagerly Waiting: Finding Joy in Advent and Beyond

In this episode of Courageous Retirement, host Vona Johnson shares her thoughts about waiting, which resonates deeply with those who realize that much of life involves waiting, and retirement is not excluded. She draws parallels between this waiting and the anticipation of the Christmas season, making the experience particularly relatable to believers. 

Vona highlights the numerous milestones and periods of waiting throughout our lives, from professional goals to personal aspirations. She uses biblical examples to explore how waiting is a significant part of the believer's journey, emphasizing the importance of faith, patience, and trust in God's perfect timing. This emphasis reassures the audience that their waiting is not in vain and instills a sense of hope for the future. 

Listeners are encouraged to find joy and purpose in the waiting, and Vona provides practical ways to use this time productively. This advice empowers them to make the most of their seasons of waiting, especially if one is waiting for a loved one to come to Christ. 

For those who struggle with the idea of entering the holidays and sharing time with those with differing beliefs and values, Vona introduces resources to help navigate difficult conversations with grace and love during the holiday season and an opportunity to maintain faith-driven habits into the new year. 

00:00 Introduction: A Lifetime of Waiting 
00:59 The Concept of Waiting in Faith 
01:55 Historical Waiting: Biblical Examples 
05:25 The Season of Advent 
09:39 Encouragement in the Waiting 
11:17 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

Scripture referenced: Hebrews 9:28.

Bible Study referenced: The Marvel and Miracle ofAdvent Bible Study by Lisa Harper and Christine Caine

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
By the time we've reachedretirement, we have spent a

(00:04):
lifetime waiting.
We wait until we graduate fromschool.
We wait until we meet ourspouse.
We wait until we have ourchildren and each one is so
precious to us.
We wait for that perfect job.
When we get the perfect job, wewait for the promotion, the
increase in wages.

(00:24):
The new opportunity forchallenges.
Literally, we wait 30 to 40years as we worked through our
careers so that we can retire.
Each time we reached one of ourmilestones.
We set another goal.
We created another dream to workfor, even after we retired.
We look at things and we try andfind that perfect balance

(00:45):
between feeling fulfilled indoing something and resting.
All the time we are thinking ofour loved ones and we are
waiting for some of them to findthe Lord.
And that can be the longestwait, can't it?
Today, I'm going to talk aboutwaiting.
The waiting we do as believers.
And I want you to stick aroundto the end because I'm going to

(01:06):
talk about my number one adviceon the best way to wait.
I hope you'll join us.

Speaker (01:12):
Do you fear what lies beyond retirement?
What if it's a gateway to a lifefilled with purpose, meaning,
and adventure rather than anend?
Discover peace and fulfillmentas you boldly enter this new
chapter in CourageousRetirement, a Christian podcast.
I'm your host, author and coach,Vanna Johnson.
Let's get started.
Sometimes the waiting can feellike eternity.

(01:34):
Can't it?
It feels like that thing we wantso bad, whether it's
work-related or health-relatedor relationship related.
It just feels like it's nevercoming.
And sometimes we can work sohard to make something happen
and it doesn't make adifference.
We still end up waiting.

(01:55):
Imagine what it must have beenlike when God's people had to
wait 400 years between the oldTestament, the book of Malachi
and when Jesus came 400 yearslater, it was radio silence.
God didn't leave any moremessages.

(02:15):
There weren't any new prophets.
There was nothing new, but stillthey believed and they didn't
give up.
Of course during that time theycontinue to live their lives.
They didn't just sit on thesidelines until God opened up.
That would have been ridiculousafter 400 years.
But they continue to do whatthey knew that they were to do.

(02:36):
They continued to follow thedirections that God gave them in
his Word and they continued tobelieve.
As they lived their lives, theystudied scripture, they shared
the stories.
They didn't have Bibles like wehave today.
So they shared stories amongthemselves.
And they just kept up the hope.
I'm sure it was difficult attimes, but they didn't give up.

(02:58):
Behind the scenes, God wasworking out the details.
And sometimes it's hard toimagine that, but think about at
the end of that 400 year period.
God had made a plan and itinvolved an 80 year old woman
having a son who would be themessenger to tell the world
about Jesus's arrival.

(03:19):
But it also involved a 15 yearold girl.
So he had his perfect timing.
Had to be amazing to have this80 year old woman in this 15
year old Virgin come together.
They were related.
And to come together and toshare the joy of knowing that
they were going to bring God'smessage to the world.
They were finally going to breakthe silence.

(03:41):
Behind the scenes, God waspreparing Zachariah and
Elizabeth.
He was preparing Mary and Josephand all of the players in the
world, the wise men even wereback there studying the stars
and watching and waiting forthis return that was promised in
the old Testament.
Only in God's perfect plan andin God's perfect timing, could

(04:02):
all of these things line up atthe same time so these two
cousins could come together.
And produce young men that wouldchange the world.
Yes.
Waiting is hard work.
There are times when God putsplans and ideas and dreams on
our heart.
And we will rush in and try anddo the things to make those
dreams come true.

(04:24):
And it doesn't happen whether wemisunderstood or we got the
timing off, or we did what wewere supposed to do.
And he was using that behind thescene.
Sometimes we'll never know, butit can be really frustrating
when God gives us a desire.
And then it just seems tofizzle.
Nothing seems to happen.
We often wonder how we couldhave been so far off track.

(04:48):
What's beautiful is that nothingis wasted in God's economy.
He uses all of our wrong stepsare misguided actions.
And sometimes are out and outsin.
To bring about his plans for hisglory.
Not only does he use those wholove and follow him to complete
his plans, sometimes he uses.

(05:09):
People who don't believe in himto help further his plans.
Throughout history, evil Kings,sinful people, and even
unsuspecting nonbelievers havebeen used to accomplish God's
plans in his time.
And he still does that today.
I'm reminded of this as we enterinto the season of advent.

(05:30):
We are in that season of waitingfor Christ's return, just like
they were waiting for Christ tocome the first time, all those
years ago.
We get really excited aboutadvent and we decorate our homes
and we trim the trees and put upthe lights and we prepare
delicious foods and delectabletreats and plan gatherings to

(05:51):
come together to share the joyand the anticipation of Christ
and his birth.
Isn't it ironic that even peoplewho don't claim to love Jesus,
get in on the excitement in theplanning and the anticipation.
They may not call it advent.
They may not celebrate Christ'sbirth, but they celebrate
Christmas.
What a blessing it is that inthis festive season, All feel

(06:14):
the love and the joy and thepeace, and they feel welcome, I
pray, they feel welcome inChrist's home as we celebrate
his birth together.
Year after year, we go throughthe process of putting up the
tree, trimming our house withlights and put up our
nativities, we have Christmasprograms and plan parties and

(06:35):
celebrate this joyous time ofthe year.
And every year, we take down thetrees.
We put all the trimming away.
And we.
Just go on with our lives.
Long after the candles haveburned out and the toys have
broken and the food has been putaway, we continue to wait.
I pray for you that there isstill joy in the waiting.

(06:57):
That you will continue to meetwith God's people.
And find encouragement and hopeand in just coming together and
waiting for him.
I pray that you get theencouragement and the support
that you need as sometimes thisjourney just gets too long and
too hard.
In a study that I'm doing.
The Marvel in the Miracle ofAdvent by Christine Kane and

(07:20):
Lisa Harper.
We are reminded of a quote from.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The celebration of advent ispossible only to those who are
troubled in soul.
Who know themselves to be poorand imperfect.
And who looked forward tosomething greater to come.
I wrote this paragraph in mybook called A different View

(07:40):
about the season of advent.
As believers.
We all love Christmas because ithelps us focus on Christ and the
incredible gift he is to us.
We use advent the weeks leadingup to Christmas to prepare for
Christ coming.
Both by remembering his birthand by looking forward to his
return.

(08:01):
When we think of it in thoseterms.
Every day, we live life in thein-between(another term I use in
the book in a different chapter)is the season of advent.
With that in mind.
Let's remember that Jesushumbled himself.
And he has already saved us fromsin death in the power of Satan.

(08:22):
Let us not grow weary as we waitfor Christ to return and forget
that even now I'm in our grief,fear and uncertainty.
That God's actions arefulfilling his promises to us.
Please keep the faith, trustGod, and remember, whatever
battle the world, andspecifically you, are in, Christ

(08:43):
won the fight for us all on thecross.
I pray that you will use thisseason of waiting to love those
in your life enough to speaktruth to them in love.
If that seems daunting to you, Iencourage you to purchase
Difficult Conversations.
For only$17.
You get access to several shortpodcast sessions that you can

(09:04):
listen to while you're preparingall of your festivities.
This short series will help youengage in conversations with
everyone who joins you at yourholiday table.
Also when you purchase that, youget the opportunity to join in
on a special live session withme in January.
Where we will discuss how we cancarry the habits of faith

(09:26):
forward into the new year.
That's only available during theholiday season.
That's really a greatopportunity to really step into
living out our faith and havingdifficult conversations.
Let's face it.
Waiting for something that welonged for can be really hard.
We can get discouraged,frustrated.
And we may even want to give upand just do it on our own and

(09:48):
not wait for God anymore.
But don't fall into thattemptation.
Lean into Jesus.
Ask him to help you.
Read scripture.
Pray to him, ask him how hewants you to take the next step.
And then when you do take thatstep, let go of the outcome,
knowing that he will use you inexactly the way that he needs to
to fulfill his purpose.

(10:09):
You never know what amazingthings God is working out in the
background.
I love how it stated in Hebrews9: 28.
It says.
Christ died only once as asacrifice.
To take away the sins of manypeople.
He will come again, not to dealwith our sins again.
This time, he will bringsalvation to all those who are

(10:32):
eagerly waiting on him.
So as we are in this season ofwaiting.
And really aren't we always, inthis season of waiting?
I just pray that you willremember that Jesus has already
won.
That there isn't anything thatwe can do.
That will take away his love forus and that we want to bring as

(10:56):
many people with us when he doescome back for us.
So I pray that you will enjoythis season of advent, whether
it's leading up to Christmasthis season.
Or any other time of the year,just stay strong in the waiting.
Engage with people who loveJesus.
And be encouraged.
Don't give up hope.
Never ever give up hope.

(11:17):
I hope that you're enjoyingcourageous retirement.
I am just so blessed that youwere here and I just thank you
for your time.
You may have noticed that theepisodes are a little shorter.
It's a busy season and Hey, I'mretired.
So I do want to get messages outto you consistently, but I also
want to focus on the things thatare happening in my life.

(11:37):
And you're busy too.
I get that.
This is going to be our secondto the last episode of season
one of courageous retirement.
The next episode in two weeks,I'm going to share a book with
you.
It's actually a children's book.
And I interviewed the author onLonging for More years ago.
But sometimes we get a book thatchanges the way we look at

(12:00):
things.
I hope that A Different View isthat way for you.
If you've read that, if not, Ihope you'll consider doing so.
But this book changed the waythat I looked at forgiveness and
Christmas and.
How we interact with our littleones.
So, if you're in retirement age,probably you don't have little
ones at home but I pray that youhave little ones in your life,

(12:24):
whether they're grandchildren orchildren that you teach in
Sunday school or neighbors orwhatever.
So I hope you'll come back intwo weeks and I'm going to tell
you a little bit about theauthor and how it came to be,
but I think it's a great way tostep into the Christmas season
and just remember what it's allabout.
I look forward to seeing youback here in two weeks.

(12:45):
Again, enjoy this beautifulseason of advent and I pray that
you will engage your faith.
You will live your more andenjoy the immense benefits of
courageous retirement.
God bless.