Building the muscles

Verses of the day:
"But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength."  Isaiah 40:31
"Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  Isaiah 41:10
"God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places."  Habakkuk 3:19
"For you equipped me with strength for the battle."  Psalm 18:39

I am in a point in my life, where I feel as if I'm waiting.  I get discontent and weary of this wilderness waiting period.  I am trying to seek out what I am supposed to be learning in this holding pattern.  Today I came upon these verses.  Many of us have heard the first one SO many times (especially said by children in songs), but today it kind of came alive to me as I thought about how we get our strength and really what is the purpose of waiting.  I began to think what if the purpose of waiting is to be prepared for the battle ahead?  To secure our steps.  To come to know our God, who is our strength, more closely. I love the second verse that speaks of being dismayed.  I was not really sure what dismayed meant, so I looked it up.  Dismayed: feeling of discouragement or loss of courage.  Even in this holding pattern, where I feel as if I'm a plane aimlessly circling the airport, God is equipping me for the battle ahead and also confirming to me that when we are his, we should not lose courage because we are loved and he is with us.  So when we are in these waiting periods, let's look for the muscles we're building for the battle. This outlook gives me a completely different feeling about waiting.

Also, just another random thought.  I have the impression that many of our lakes are "man-made."  In Oklahoma, Eufaula Lake is man-made.  Weird!  Why do we not hear of any more huge lakes being developed?