Wait Trials

Romans 4:20 ...yet with the respect to the promise of God, he (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God. 



I work with special needs, high school age kiddos.  A very challenging job requiring a lot of patience and understanding, one needs love and hope as well. The hope is not so much for a "cure," but more in the idea that we all can attain a better understanding of how to help one another get to a goal, no matter how ridiculous or trivial it may seem to the "normal" world.

This week, I was instructed in my relationship with one kiddo in particular to implement a "wait trial."

This intervention involves data gathering during implementation of an exercise. I chart success and failures. The goal: to encourage the student to learn to wait for a perceived reward, an award he will get, because he waited. It involves a timer (on my phone) and the reward--one single M&M at a time, for ten tries. The waiting time will increase day to day, trial to trail, week by week. The goal for success is 80%.

For someone on the autism spectrum, the need for sensory stimulation is immediate and can result in some difficult behavior if not satisfied.

Yes, a bigger goal in mind concerning another complicated behavior warrants the baby steps taken with this beginning wait trial. After the statistics calculate out and success is apparent, we'll try the waiting and reward system for other behaviors.

It's so hard to wait for things, right?

We pray. We pace, We pray again. We go ahead of God. We get frustrated. We may exhibit behaviors not so appropriate for a "faithful follower."

What if God gave us a "wait trial?"

I think He does. The rewards are all the little blessings we receive in the waiting. Some are tangible, some are in His Word. Some are in the very thing we are waiting for, sparks of hope, good data to remind us that God is listening and that His timing is perfect.

Is our goal only at 80% of the time, maybe, I will be faithful? I will wait?

God loves when we give our all, yet He knows we are incapable of 100%. That's why Jesus came, to give us the grace when waiting seems impossible.

In our own waiting trial, we grow, we gain strength for the next possible bigger waiting trial ahead.

God's therapy for our hearts and minds may seem ridiculous for those who do not understand the goodness of the Lord, His perfect will. Patience, endurance, seeking the right way instead of the popular way, worship and fellowship in Him are all things that encourage us in our own "wait trials."

The only difference? God's wait trials, in our daily walk with Him,  do not keep track of those times we are not successful. Christ died on the Cross for all our checked boxes of failures. He wiped any data sheet we may think He keeps, clean, like we never messed up!

Lord, I am thinking about the things I am waiting for. I know you give me many "wait trials" in order to get to the bigger goal. Thank you for all the sweet blessings, the little rewards for my faithfulness in the waiting. (Is any reward from God little?) Sharing these amazing and sometimes supernatural messages comes natural to me, Lord. Thank You for allowing me this gift. Sometimes, though, in my stubbornness and impatience, I  have to wait longer. Lord, I know Your grace. You always say "try again, something awesome awaits--keep at it, keep pressing on, trust Me." Your answers and orchestrations of my desires are worth the wait. Thank You for loving us so much that You teach us to wait on You, so that we can see and share Your glory. Help me Lord in my own wavering days, honor me in my successes if it be Your will,  Amen.

Share Your M&Ms. I like the green ones. ☺