Limbo

I don't do well with limbo.  Not the game, though I'm sure I would be great entertainment if I tried to play that in my current condition.  I'm talking about the in-between times, the transition periods, when you know something else is coming but it's not time for that something yet.  Usually, you don't know how long the limbo is going to last and that makes it more difficult.  Now that I know when my current limbo is going to end, I think my sanity has returned a smidge and I have the capacity to mull these things over in my mind.  It doesn't hurt that J took the girls out of town for a cousin's birthday party the last two days.  A quiet house always helps to clear my head.

God has held me in limbo on a few occasions, and I'm sad to say that I don't think I'm getting any better at it.  Something about indefinite waiting makes me very myopic and self-focused.  I know in my head there are good strategies for shifting my perspective, but in the limbo, it's almost impossible to remember them much less implement them.  So in a brief moment of clarity, I'm going to record them here.  Somebody please remind me to read my own post the next time I'm whining about waiting.

Weapons against whining while waiting:

1. Scripture!  Post it at the kitchen sink, bathroom mirror, car dashboard.  Listen to it in music.  Read it, especially when you don't feel like it.
2. Prayer!  Be humble and vulnerable and ask other people to pray for a right perspective.
3. Overestimate the finish line - pad your expectations to buffer disappointment.  Think you'll be waiting 3 months?  Set your sights on 4.  Under-promise, over-deliver.
4. Ask for help - again with the humility
5. Shift focus - look around and see who you can help; surprise others with unexpected blessings; make yourself do something completely not about you
6. Tackle a project - I thrive on productivity, so it helps me to be getting things done
7. Just keep swimming - one foot in front of the other, grateful for the capacity to move through life, doing what needs to be done, even when you want to wallow in self-pity
8. Hide the chocolate - don't give yourself unlimited access; let your husband ration it out in appropriate portions.  Just an idea; I wouldn't know from experience or anything.

Any other strategies that work for you?  How do you survive limbo?  How do you glorify God while waiting?  Tell me now, because I know my next season of waiting is just around the corner.