Journey into the heart of God’s timing

Journey into the heart of God’s timing

Marlo Schalesky walks readers through the wonder of waiting

In today’s culture, waiting can seem like a constant nuisance. Whether it’s waiting in line, at the doctor’s office or in traffic, we are often presented with the struggle of not being in control of our own time. Likewise, believing God when a promise is new is easy, but it’s hard when the years pass and nothing changes. It’s harder still when desperation strikes, plans backfire and God does not seem to fill the emptiness. In Waiting for Wonder: Learning to Live on God’s Timeline (Abingdon Press/November 1, 2016/ISBN: 9781501820106/$16.99), Marlo Schalesky encourages readers to think differently about our waiting periods of life.

The idea of waiting is directly opposed to our culture’s incessant message of quick results, instant gratification and personal success. We’re taught that setting our mind, dreaming big and taking action are all that’s needed to make a change. God, however, has a different plan. In Waiting for Wonder, Schalesky takes readers on a unique, contemplative journey examining the life of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, to reveal the wonder that is often missed when we find ourselves struggling to wait well. “God’s timing is so very often not our timing,” Schalesky states. “My own heart shrinks from a life filled with decades of promises still not come true, of desperate prayers that groan through months turned to years. I wrestle with the wonder of waiting.”

Each chapter recounts a significant event in Sarah’s life and an important discovery about God’s character that is revealed during times of waiting. Through Sarah’s experiences, readers can better understand God’s glory shines brightest when human plans go awry, human strength falters and human efforts fail. Like Sarah, the author also had a 20-year journey through infertility, yet Waiting for Wonder was written to apply to waiting in all areas of life. During her own wait, Schalesky described herself as trying, praying and hoping “everything” while she also kicked, screamed, complained and cried. But God changed her in the waiting place. “God made me into someone new. The waiting place turned out to be a place where God was especially active. In it, I found a place of wonder.”

Schalesky shows readers waiting well is not in mustering up the right words or persona of faithfulness. Rather, it is only through engaging with God, encountering Him when we’re mad at Him, disappointed or despairing, that He can work deep, significant change. God takes the very things that cause the most pain and shame and transforms them — in His time — for His glory.

Waiting for Wonder is a journey into the heart of God where readers will wrestle with personal questions, think deeply about God’s true character and learn to appreciate His divine work while discovering their own paths to the Promised Land. As they learn to live on God’s time, readers will recapture their hope, restore their souls and renew their vision of a wondrous Savior.

For those who would like to use the book for group study and discussion, a leader guide (ISBN: 9781501823589/ $12.99) is also available containing everything needed for a six-week conversation.

Advance Praise

“Can a book calm you and stimulate you simultaneously? Waiting for Wonder settles the angst of the modern soul long enough to carve out a quiet space where a reader can receive the challenge to follow Jesus deeper. Schalesky’s words quietly slipped into my soul where God used them to wedge loose rock-hard places to make room for transformation and life.”
             ~ Lori Stanley Roeleveld, author of Jesus and the Beanstalk

“Waiting for Wonder doesn’t merely reveal Marlo Schalesky’s elegance with language, devotion to the unfailing truth of God’s Word and her ability to discover wonder-filled moments. The book does what all good books should: It invites us to think. And in the thinking and pondering, our hearts are opened to how God infuses breathless wonder in our waiting.”
             ~ Cynthia Ruchti, speaker and author of Ragged Hope and Tattered and Mended

About the Author

Marlo Schalesky is an award-winning author of 10 books, including both fiction and non-fiction. Her novels have garnered the high honors of the Christy Award and ACFW Book of the Year. Schalesky’s non-fiction releases include Wrestling with Wonder: A Transformational Journey through the Life of Mary (Zondervan) and the latest, Waiting for Wonder: Learning to Live on God’s Timetable (Abingdon Press).

More than 1,000 of Schalesky’s articles have been published in various Christian magazines, including Focus on the Family, Today’s Christian Woman and In Touch. She has contributed devotional books for couples and children. She is a speaker and regular columnist for David C Cook’s Power for Living.

Schalesky is a graduate of Stanford University and has earned her Master’s in Theology, with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the founder and president of Wonder Wood Ranch, a California charitable organization bringing hope to a hurting community through horses.

Schalesky lives with her husband, six children and a crazy number of animals at her log-home ranch on California’s central coast.

Keep up with Marlo Schalesky by visiting www.VividGod.com, following her on Facebook (MarloSchalesky) or via Twitter (@marloschalesky).