What Saint Elizabeth Taught Me About Waiting
Right next to the pew I grew up in is a stained glass window of the Visitation. The image filled with hues of blue depicts Saint Elizabeth pregnant with Saint John the Baptist, with both arms wrapped tightly around our Blessed Mother, newly pregnant with Jesus, our Incarnate God. As a young girl gazing up to that tall window on Sunday mornings, all I really saw was that old, wrinkly woman from Scripture who used to be barren. But boy, was I missing something huge.
I still sit in that same pew today as a married thirty-two-year-old. My husband and I live and work in my hometown, and we attend my home parish where I received all of my Sacraments. But as I glance over my shoulder in Mass, not as a young girl but now as a wife, I see that Saint Elizabeth’s witness has much more to offer.
My husband and I have carried a cross of infertility for almost four years, and through our season of waiting, Saint Elizabeth has become a close friend and intercessor. As I’ve grown in relationship with her, I’ve come to appreciate her not only as the obvious beacon of hope and perseverance in the depths of infertility, but also as an inspiring example of how to wait for an answered prayer. And how to wait well.
-Waiting is Active-
“Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly” (Luke 1:6).
Scripture tells us in the first chapter of Luke that Saint Elizabeth and Saint Zechariah lived their lives as faithful servants of God. And the two adjectives “righteous” and “blameless” speak volumes.
Elizabeth and Zechariah chose to show up in the ordinary and mundane realities of everyday life as faithful servants of their Lord, not because He had answered their prayer, but because of Who He was. They were obedient not because of what He had done for them, but because He was their God.
In their long wait not only for a child, but also for the Messiah, they waited actively, not passively, living out their vocations as husband and wife faithfully and quietly, day in and day out. And this witness in Scripture made me realize I’m called to do the same in my season of waiting.
“Vocation” is just another word for our path to sainthood. Whether we are single or married, priests or religious, a mom of one or a mom of six, we all have the same call: to be a saint. If we consider the lives of the Saints, we see that they didn’t become Saints because of a perfect set of circumstances. They became Saints in spite of imperfect circumstances. So when it comes to chasing sainthood, there really is no time to waste.
Saint Elizabeth has taught me that I’m called to grow in holiness now, in the exact season and circumstances the Lord has me in today. My parish priest once told me in confession: “God has already given you everything you need to become a saint.” So today I rest knowing that I lack nothing. Today there is His work to be done and His good news to share. Through God’s grace, I’m seeing more and more each day just how valuable being present in a season of waiting can be in molding me into the saint He is calling me to be.
-Waiting isn’t Just About Me-
“Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. All who heard these things took them to heart, saying, ‘What, then, will this child be?’ For surely the hand of the Lord was with him” (Luke 1:65-66).
Saint John the Baptist was born with a very specific purpose as the forerunner of Jesus, sent to prepare His way, and his birth required great obedience from Elizabeth and Zechariah. But what was impossible to see in the circumstances of Elizabeth’s daily life was the effect John the Baptist’s conception, birth, and life as the Messiah’s precursor would have on Salvation History.
There was no way for her to know the full impact her witness and the life of her child would have—not only on her immediate community, but on the entire world for generations to come.
Saint Elizabeth has taught me that my wait really isn’t just about me. My circumstances and my story, my witness as a wife and future mother, the lives of my future children, my family, and my marriage all have a specific purpose in building up the Kingdom of God and making disciples of all nations.
She proves that a simple life of humble obedience, mixed with some waiting and suffering, and topped off with some impossible circumstances, is the perfect concoction to bring about miracles and a witness that will change lives and the course of history. That is the stuff of the Saints. That is the kind of life we are called to live as radical followers of Christ.
“‘What, then, will this child be?’ For surely the hand of the Lord was with him,” is a verse I love to take to prayer when praying for our future children. It reminds me to stay the course. Of course my husband and I are eager to see how God uses us and our future children to further His Kingdom. But what brings greater comfort is knowing that if, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, we give God room in our story to move how and when He wills, there will be no room left for others to doubt His goodness and existence.
-Waiting is Worth It-
“And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy” (Luke 1:43-44).
Can you imagine Elizabeth’s joy? That after an excruciatingly long season of waiting, God answered not one of her prayers, but both? That in embracing our Blessed Mother and hearing her greeting, she not only recognized Mary as “the mother of my Lord,” witnessing the coming of her long awaited Messiah, but also felt her own baby leap in her womb for joy?
I think I, too, would exclaim, “[H]ow does this happen to me?”
One day, all at once, God revealed what He had been working on all along. Not on Elizabeth’s timeline and not in a way she could have ever dreamed up on her own. Days, months, years, and decades ticked by, praying for what seemed like two hopeless intentions. And then there came the day when God moved. And He moved in a really big way.
Saint Elizabeth’s wait played an invaluable part in God’s salvation of the world through His only begotten Son. If that wait wasn’t worth it, I don’t know what is.
"It’ll be worth it” can be such a cliché phrase tossed around in seasons of waiting. Not getting what we want right when we want it is countercultural to say the least. But I truly believe that if we could immediately see the abundant fruit of our waiting and suffering when it is united to Jesus' suffering on the Cross, we’d beg God for the chance to wait and suffer with Him.
Our good and gracious Father only knows abundance. He can only give us His best because that’s all He knows. Surrendering to God in a season of waiting is not a waste. Through the eyes of the world, it looks passive or indifferent. But through the eyes of eternity, it’s the most active act of faith we can make. Nothing given to God is ever wasted, so when we give Him our waiting, our emptiness, our suffering, and whatever we think we lack, He most certainly will bring out of our poverty His most glorious riches. And if you ask me, that really is totally worth it.
-Don’t Miss Out-
As I continue in my own season of waiting, I now look at that same stained-glass window in a much different light. And just like Saint Elizabeth, I, too, fling my arms tightly around our Blessed Mother and Jesus with joyful hope and trust that God is using my wait to work many, many miracles. Whether I live to see them in my lifetime or not. Whether I can see the fruit of them now or not.
Don’t miss out on a season that can be the very instrument God uses to make you the great saint you are destined to be. If God is asking you to wait, He is inviting you into a sacred space. And rest assured that in His loving providence, if He is asking you to wait, it’s for His greatest glory and for your greatest good.
This was originally published here on blessedisshe.net.
