Learn to Wait Well BY VICTORIA OSTEEN.

One of my nieces is 18 years old, and I've been watching her go through this process of applying to college and waiting for an acceptance letter. She applied to several schools, and every day she waits and every day she checks for an answer. She's in the waiting process. She's not alone. Many of her friends are doing the same thing, and they have plans A, B and C worked out. But for my niece, this is the biggest decision of her life. I've been watching the waves of her emotion as she wonders, "What if I don't get into my first choice school?" "Who am I going to room with?" "What will it all be like?"

As I watch her go through this process, I think to myself, we are all waiting for something. Much of life is a waiting game. I look at her at 18, and this is the biggest deal in her life. She's thinking, "If I don't get into school, my life is over!" When instead, she could be thinking, "I'm going to get to the place where God wants me, and when I get there, God will have provision for me. He has the right opportunities and the right people all lined up!" That's what we want for her. We want her to enjoy where she is on the way to where she's going. She still has her senior year to finish and so much of life to enjoy!

Sometimes in the waiting, we can be tempted to worry. Your mind can wander. Today, God is saying, "Trust Me in the stages of waiting. Believe that I have your best interest at heart!" It may feel like a struggle to wait. The word "wait" can often feel like a "weight." Mostly because we are so used to getting things instantaneously. We can instant message around the world; we can get an instant answer on Google, and we can get instant food through a drive through. This instant style of living makes the waiting a bit of a struggle. But God doesn't want us to just struggle, He wants us to become strong and develop ourselves in the waiting.

Think about that butterfly coming out of its cocoon. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes difficulty to get out of that cocoon. But once it breaks out, it comes forth in such beauty. It's ready; it's poised to be able to fly. That's what happens to us when we wait well. We become strong and beautiful, ready to embrace all God has for us.

The truth of the matter about my niece is that as soon as she finds out what school she's going to, she's going to have to wait to graduate. Then she's going to have to wait to see what will happen in her career. Then she's going to have to wait to get married. Then she's going to have to wait to have a baby and wait to buy her first house. There's waiting in life for all of us, and the sooner we learn to wait well, the better off we will be!

"They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength..." (Isaiah 40:31, KJV)