Still Waiting: Hope for When God Doesn’t Give You What You Want

So few of us know how to wait well. Ann has lived a long wait and found God in it. We need the vulnerability—laced with the wisdom God has imparted during her years of waiting—that Ann Swindell offers on these pages. As only a skilled storyteller can do, she invites us to find our own stories within hers and within the narrative of Scripture that is written for us, the waiting ones.

Ann has taken us through a tender, personal journey that we can all relate to. We understand the ache of shame, and we have our own stories of waiting for relief. With biblical truth and the gentle wisdom of a good friend, Ann tells both the Bleeding Woman’s story and her own, and leads us to our present hope and fullness in Christ as we wait.

In Still Waiting, Ann gives us insight into what to do while we are waiting. Not only what to do, but how to stay attached to the bigger God-story in the midst of our struggles. Ann has not only given us insight and truth but has lived it out in her own life. May this book stir you to love Jesus more and believe that he is able to meet with you, even in the waiting.

The remarkable biblical story of the Bleeding Woman whom Jesus healed is the backdrop for this treasure of a book. Weaving in the intimate details of her own ongoing journey to healing with honesty and insight, Ann Swindell creatively, compassionately, and gently takes us by the hand and leads us to Jesus with astonishing wisdom that can only come from personal experience. Her skillfully written words spoke deeply into my often impatient, questioning heart in seasons of waiting, pointing to life-changing truth and providing encouragement and hope. We come to see each element of the waiting as a gift with an eternal purpose, drawing us closer to the one who sovereignly knows our need.

Still Waiting offers wisdom and hope in an area I have long struggled to overcome: the ability to wait well. Ann lovingly guides us through Scripture and comes alongside us with her own story as we go on a journey to learn what it means to wait in a way that isn’t lazy but provides an open space in our hearts and schedules for God to meet us in the midst of the unknown. And that is always, always, worth the wait.

Grab a cup of coffee and meet your new best friend. That’s how you’ll feel after reading this expertly crafted book, which is about far more than waiting. It is about how to live—how to take what life is offering at any moment and be whole and at peace. Swindell intimately weaves together painful and touching stories from her own life with Scripture and reflections, and creates a very real space of hope.

In Still Waiting, both Ann’s faith and her struggles are creatively woven together with a biblical story in a way that gives each of us hope for our respective challenges. This is a great reminder of God’s faithfulness in spite of our circumstances.

Life constantly (and painfully) reminds us how hard waiting truly is. In fact, waiting may well be one of the most challenging spiritual tasks that’s set before us. Ann Swindell gently invites us to learn from someone intimately familiar with waiting: the hemorrhaging woman described in Mark 5. As Ann explores, the short glimpse Scripture gives us of this woman’s life and faith is rich fodder for aiding us in our own weakness and waiting, encouraging us to keep reaching out to Jesus in expectant hope.

We all have to deal with some degree of waiting in our lives. Through a beautiful retelling of the story of the Bleeding Woman—as well as honest glimpses into her own story—Ann points us back to Jesus in every stage of the waiting process. Still Waiting reminds readers that the waiting period can provide fertile soil for our roots to run deep, knowing that our hope lies not in our circumstances but rather in the Lord.

Ann Swindell tells her story of waiting with winsome honesty. Readers who have fought secret battles will recognize her exhausting effort to avoid shame. Anyone who has prayed the same prayer for years will resonate with her struggle to be content in all circumstances while at the same time holding on to the hope of healing. Still Waiting helps the reader not only experience Swindell’s story but lift our gaze from her life and our own to the healing love of Christ.