Are you waiting right now?
A Listening Heart
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Waiting for an answer to a prayer that feels like it’s been unanswered for far too long? Maybe you’re waiting for your adult children to come back to faith. Maybe you’re waiting for a breakthrough in your marriage or your health. Or maybe you’re just… tired of waiting.
Today, I want to tell you something that changed my perspective on waiting: Delay is not denial. And if that truth resonates with even one thing you’re carrying right now, I want you to stick with me.
So here’s what I want to share with you today. It’s from Psalm 34:19, and it’s become my anchor verse during waiting seasons:
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. Psalm 34:19
Let me read that again, because I want you to catch something critical: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them ALL. Psalm 34:19
Not some. Not most. All.
Now, here’s what the psalmist is saying: He’s not pretending that righteous people, faithful, believing people like you and me—don’t face struggles. In fact, the opposite is true. We face MANY afflictions. But here’s the promise buried in that verse: God doesn’t just help with some of them. He delivers us from ALL of them.
But here’s where faith gets tested: The psalmist doesn’t say WHEN He delivers us. He doesn’t give us a timeline. And that’s where we struggle, isn’t it? Because we live in a culture that wants everything on demand, everything fast, everything now.”
But God? He operates on a different clock.
Is God Really Working While You Wait? A Prayer for Mothers of Adult Children
I know many of us are in the waiting season right now. And for some of you, you’re specifically waiting on answers to prayers about your adult children.
I want to be honest with you: the waiting is hard. It’s one of the hardest things we do as mothers because we can’t fix it, we can’t control it, and we can’t rush it. We can only pray. And sometimes, prayer alone doesn’t feel like enough.
I’ve been there. Lying awake at 3 a.m., replaying conversations, wondering if I missed something. Wondering if my prayers even matter. Wondering if God is really listening.
That’s why this verse gripped my heart so deeply. Because David—the psalmist—he knew what it meant to wait. He waited for God’s promises to come to pass while King Saul was hunting him. He faced impossible circumstances. And in the middle of all that, he wrote this: God delivers from ALL afflictions.
But here’s what I realized: Delay is not the same as denial.
A delay means God heard your prayer. He saw your tears. He knows exactly what you’re asking for. But He’s choosing to work behind the scenes in ways you can’t see yet. He’s aligning things. He’s orchestrating circumstances. He’s working on the heart that needs to be transformed before the answer arrives.
We serve an on-time God. He is never a moment too soon, and He is never a moment too late.
Yes, the waiting is hard. Yes, it tests your faith. Yes, there are days when it feels like He’s silent. But silence is not absence. Delay is not denial.
I want you to hear this: At the appointed time, God’s appointed time—you WILL see the answer. You will see the breakthrough. You will see your child’s heart soften. You will see the marriage restore. You will see the impossible become possible.
And when you look back, you’ll understand why it took as long as it did.”
Praying for Adult Children: 3 Practical Steps for Waiting in Faith
So what does this mean for you this week? Here are three things I want you to do:
First, exchange your heavy burden for God’s easy yoke. Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ You don’t have to carry this alone. Take that anxiety, that fear, that exhaustion—lay it down at His feet. Tell Him, ‘I can’t figure this out, but You can.’
Second, choose to trust what you know over what you feel. Your feelings might tell you that God has forgotten. But what do you KNOW to be true? That He loves you. That He’s faithful. That He’s never broken a promise. When anxiety rises this week, stop and say, ‘God, I choose to trust what I know about Your character, even though I can’t see what You’re doing right now.’
Third, declare the promise over what you’re waiting for. If you’re praying for your child, speak it out loud:
- The gates of hell will not prevail against my adult children
- My child belongs to Jesus.
- I declare that divine destiny helpers will come into their life.
- I declare that their steps are ordered by the Lord.
Don’t wait to FEEL confident to speak these things. Speak them by faith.
Friend, this week when you feel weak, come back to this verse (Psalm 34:19). Remind yourself: God delivers from ALL afflictions. Your prayer matters. Your faith matters. And your God is working.”
PRAYER For Mothers of Adult Children
“Let’s pray together. If you’d like to, you can pray along with me, or you can simply let these words cover your heart and your situation:
Almighty Father, You are the great I AM.
Thank You for the gift of Your love for us and for our families. Today, I come on behalf of every sister in this community, and I lay our burdens before You. We take off the weight we’ve been carrying—the worry, the anxiety, the exhaustion of waiting—and we exchange it for Your easy yoke. Fill our hearts with Your peace. Fill us with Your presence.
Help us not to lean on our own understanding. Help us to acknowledge that You are working in ways we cannot see. Your ways are higher than our ways. Your timing is perfect.
Thank You, Father, for every one of our children. We declare that the gates of hell will not prevail over them. We hide them under the shadow of Your wings. We ask that You shield them from all evil and harm.
Let Your will be done in their lives. Be Lord in the lives of our adult children. Draw their hearts close to You. Break every chain, every yoke of bondage. Send godly destiny helpers into their lives. Order their steps.
Give them a divine encounter with You, Lord. Save our children, and they will be saved. For You are the Lord we will praise.
Thank You in advance for hearing our prayers. We receive these answers by faith. We pray with thanksgiving. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Friend, you don’t have to carry your burdens alone. In the comments below, I want you to share:
What are you waiting on God for right now? Drop your prayer request, and let us lift you up.
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Weathering Storms: Finding Treasures in the Ruins by Dr. Temitope Keku
