Waiting Isn't a Waste

“Years ago a friend said to me, ‘The only thing worse than waiting on the Lord is wishing you had.’ Most of us, in varying degrees, don’t like to wait. But all of us will wait, and we will wait on God. His timetable doesn’t always sync with ours. What do we do while we wait? Mark Vroegop teaches us that waiting on God is living on what we know to be true about God when we don’t know what is true about our life. Thank you, Mark, for sharing with us how and why to wait and doing so in such a clear, biblical, transferable way. What a treasure!”

—Crawford W. Loritts Jr., speaker; radio host; author; Founder and President, Beyond Our Generation

“Waiting Isn’t a Waste is full of timely and practical encouragement for every reader. Instead of trying to avoid waiting at all costs, this book will help you embrace it as a good gift from God.”

—Ruth Chou Simons, Wall Street Journal bestselling author; artist; Founder, GraceLaced.com

“Waiting is one of the most difficult parts of life, yet also the most common. Most of life involves waiting. The speed of modern life tempts us to view all waiting as a waste. Mark Vroegop helps us develop a biblical framework for waiting on God, inviting us to see times of waiting as opportunities for worship and growth. Viewed rightly, waiting provides pathways to contentment and calmness—a healthy, nonpressured embracing of life as God intended it. This timely, readable book will be edifying to everyone who reads it.”

—Gavin Ortlund, President, Truth Unites; Theologian-in-Residence, Immanuel Church, Nashville, Tennessee

“Waiting fills the gap between our current reality and our unrealized expectations. While we may feel stuck, forgotten, disappointed, and confused, Mark Vroegop’s new book Waiting Isn’t a Waste faithfully reminds us that God is purposefully at work in transformative ways. This book is a helpful and needed encouragement to live in the truth of what we know about God when we don’t understand his plan for our lives.”

—Melissa B. Kruger, author; Vice President of Discipleship Programming, The Gospel Coalition

“I had no idea the Bible said so much about waiting. As someone with a terrible reputation for being impatient, this is not surprising. This book is a godsend to me and others in our day. How desperately we need to hear the biblical and practical wisdom it contains.”

—Daniel L. Akin, President, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

“This is an important book for all of us who think that waiting is unproductive and annoying. Whether in the doctor’s waiting room or at a red light or, worse yet, in a life crisis that makes us vulnerable to the dark riders of fear, anxiety, and doubt, waiting is rarely thought of as a friend. Thankfully, Mark Vroegop has given us a fresh biblical perspective that radically changes our view of waiting. With practical steps forged through his own experience, Vroegop leads us into a new appreciation for the ‘waits’ of life as we place our trust in our God who is at work for our good and his glory when our lives seem stuck on pause.”

—Joe Stowell, Bible teacher; special assistant to the President, Moody Bible Institute

“It is hard to think of a less requested yet more urgently needed project than a rehabilitation of our practical theology of waiting. Packed with insight into the intersection of waiting and hope, waiting and intentionality, waiting and the trustworthiness of God, waiting and building enduring Christian community, this book is laden with distillations of Scripture that I sincerely pray will change how you and I live every day for the rest of our lives.”

—J. Alasdair Groves, Executive Director, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation; coauthor, Untangling Emotions

“I stink at waiting. I really do. In recent days, I have been reminded of this. This is why I was thankful to know this rare, timely book had been written. Waiting Isn’t a Waste was exactly what I needed to press against my impatience and remind me how much waiting is a part of God’s good plan for all of us. Everything Mark Vroegop writes is clear, biblical, practical, and thoughtful, and this book is no exception. Whether you are a pastor, church member, or simply someone looking for hope in the waiting, this book is definitely for you. I know of nothing like it.”

—Brian Croft, Executive Director, Practical Shepherding

“With Mark Vroegop as your guide, learning to wait can be one of the greatest journeys you will embark on. He invites us to see what we experience as annoyances and long seasons of anxiety as opportunities to discover who God is and his tender care of us. Vroegop does not ask us to ignore the challenges of waiting or trivialize the anxiety we feel. Instead, Waiting Isn’t a Waste encourages us to embrace waiting because when we do, we will find ourselves on the path to flourishing.”

—Darby Strickland, Faculty and Counselor, Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation; author, Is It Abuse?

“In this personal and profound volume, Mark Vroegop points us toward redemption in the waiting of life. With practical advice, theological clarity, and personal warmth, Vroegop presents waiting as a transformational discipline of the Christian life, something that brings peace into our lives through a deeper connection to the Lord. For our generation that is always impatient and ruthlessly driven, this book is a manifesto for the countercultural calling of authentic Christian discipleship.”

—D. Michael Lindsay, President, Taylor University