Category Archives: Encouragement

3 Ways to Stay Flexible and Be Ready for Change

Traveling in College

When I was in college, I traveled around the country on a musical team representing my school. I played the piano for our group, and we performed at a different church every Sunday. One of the leaders who traveled with us had a saying, “Flexibility is the key to ministry.” If she said it once, she said it a thousand times. She desperately wanted us to understand that leaders must stay flexible with changing times, people, and situations. With decades of ministry behind her, she knew all too well that life has a way of changing when you least expect it.

I understood this concept in a small way in college, but over a decade in ministry has helped me to clearly understand what she was trying to teach us. The best leaders are the ones who can adapt and change to the people, times, culture, and ideas around them. They don’t hang on to the past, unable to change and adapt and move into the future.

Allowing God to Redirect Us

Sometimes God completely redirects us. Maybe it’s a career change, a move, a new relationship, a loss, a painful experience, or something else completely. God has a habit of shaking things up in our lives when we least expect it. If you would have asked me a year ago to foresee some of the changes God took our family through last year, I would have been shocked. I had no idea that the bottom would fall out for us both in our ministry and in our personal lives. I had no idea we would go for months on end without getting paid, endure depression and discouragement like we never had before, face the pain of potentially walking away from the church we started seven years ago, and having to sell our home and move.

Holding Loosely to My Plans

I have learned over the past several years that the best way for me to succeed in life is to find what it is that God wants me to do and follow it wholeheartedly. View the talents and abilities, dreams and desires He has given me as a compass to point me towards what He wants me to accomplish. The struggles of this past year taught me that I also have to hold on to those plans and dreams with a loose hand and allow God to change my direction and plans at any time because He will do that when we least expect it!

King Solomon teaches us this principle in Proverbs. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (KJV) The Message paraphrases it this way, “We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (MSG)

Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” (KJV) The Message paraphrases it this way, “We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.” (MSG)

3 Ways to Stay Flexible and Allow for Change

How can we accomplish our goals and dreams and yet be flexible enough for God to be able to move or redirect us?

Keep a tender heart. Keep a clean heart and conscience before God. Forgive people who do you wrong. Don’t get a hard heart with people or situations that disappoint you. God may be allowing those painful situations in your life to move you in a different direction. If Matt and I hadn’t battled every day to keep a tender heart, we would have walked away from ministry this past year.
Develop a consistent morning time routine. Spend time every morning praying, reading the Bible, and journaling. We can’t expect God to direct us if we aren’t spending time with Him. He will use His Word and time in prayer to show us and direct us into what He has for us. My morning time was a lifeline for me this past year. If I hadn’t spent years developing the habit of reading my Bible every morning, journaling, and praying, I would have given up. If you would like some ideas for developing a consistent morning time, read my best tips for an effective morning time.
Continue growing and learning. Spend time reading good books, listening to podcasts, and growing. So many times a podcast I listened to or a book I read helped me to stay faithful, keep moving forward, and make the changes I needed to. It is so much easier for God to redirect us and change us when we are in the habit of growing and learning. If you need book or podcast suggestions, here are a few of my favorites.

Staying Flexible and Be Ready for Change

If we keep a tender heart, spend each morning connecting with God, and allow God to change our thinking by reading good books and listening to good podcasts, we are as ready as we can be for God to interrupt our life and send us in a new direction. Don’t hold so tightly to your ideas, your plans, or your dreams that you can’t let God redirect you and point you in the new direction He wants you to go.

Christmas Family Series- #2

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Do you ever feel like the holidays fly by without fitting any meaningful family time in? I have in my mind all the things I want to do as a family for the holiday season, but all of a sudden January hits and we didn’t get to any of it.

A few years ago, Matt and I talked and decided to do something about it. We decided to be more intentional about the holidays. I knew if we were going to fit more into our schedule, I had to find ideas that were simple and easy. I started trying to find ways to incorporate more quality family time in during the holiday season. We have several things now that we do as a family each year that I want to share over the next few weeks. Here we go!

Idea #2: Looking at Lights

This idea is super easy. Load all the kids into the car, turn on the Christmas music, and drive around looking at Christmas lights. We try to do this several times during the Christmas season. Sometimes we drive through McDonald’s and get hot chocolate for everybody.

It doesn’t sound spectacular, but it’s so much fun for the kids, especially when they are not expecting it. We love to surprise them. Sometimes we wait until the kids are in pajamas and ready for bed; then we tell everyone to grab a coat and put on their shoes. Chaos ensues. Everybody runs around grabbing coats and shoes. We all pile into the van and take off. We don’t stay out long- maybe about twenty minutes or so. It’s just long enough to spend some meaningful time together as a family.

Creating family time in the midst of a busy season doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. It just takes a little creativity and planning to sneak it into a busy schedule. We won’t ever regret the effort it takes to spend more time with our family. Our kids won’t be with us forever, so we have to create the memories while we can!

Family Christmas Series: #1 Reading Basket

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Idea #1: Christmas Reading Basket

Create a Christmas reading basket. I got this idea two years from Sarah Mackenzie and her podcast, “The Read-Aloud Revival.” I love this idea! We created a book basket for the month of December. I like it so much, we might continue it into next year.

Our Christmas book basket

Place a large basket somewhere visible and fill it with Christmas books. I went to my library and checked out all the best Christmas and winter books I could find! Lots of our books are by Jan Brett. We just love her books, and she has several winter and Christmas books! Whenever it’s time to read, I choose one child to go pick out a book from the basket and we get to read it together as a family.

Some of our favorites from our last library run

Finding Extra Time to Read

We try to find extra time each day to read. We might read the book before bedtime, after dinner at the table, in the morning after breakfast, in the car as we travel somewhere, or at some other random time. I love the time we spend reading a good book together as a family. Sometimes the kids sit and color and listen as I read. Other times, they just sit and look at the pictures.

We have enjoyed so many great Christmas books together as a family! It’s an easy way to fit in extra family time. Everybody enjoys it and it only takes a few minutes to pull off and absolutely no prep time! That’s a win in my book.

Choosing to Spend Time Doing What Matters Most

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Our kids playing in the leaves

Beautiful Fall Days

It’s fall! That means beautiful days, trees bursting with color, pumpkin lattes, apple picking at the orchard, apple cider donuts, and all the wonderful things fall brings.

Last week, we were crazy busy. I had more to accomplish on my to-do list each day than I could possibly accomplish. But as I looked out the window, I saw it was an incredibly gorgeous fall day. The sun hadn’t been out in days, but now it was shining and the trees were full of color.

I looked at my phone and saw that we weren’t going to have another sunny day for over a week. I started wondering if we should cancel our plans for the day and go outdoors and enjoy the great fall day God created.

Wisdom from My Morning Time

I was undecided until I had my morning time. I read in Ecclesiastes a few verses that encouraged my heart.

And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. Ecclesiastes 3:13

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Ecclesisastes 9:9

For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God:… Ecclesiastes 9:1

3 Lessons from Solomon

1. The gift of God is working hard and enjoying the fruits of our labor. What’s the point in working hard every day if you never take a day off? What’s the point of earning money if we can’t spend it doing something together as a family?

2. My spouse and children are gifts from God to be enjoyed in this life. I have to choose to spend time with them while I still can. We are not promised tomorrow, and our children won’t be with us forever. In the blink of an eye, they will be out of our home and on their own. We have to make conscious decisions to spend time putting into them, noticing them, and having fun with them while we can.

3. Our lives are in God’s hand. Our jobs, our pay, our careers, everything we work so hard for is in God’s hand. Taking a day off isn’t going to change that.

Choosing to Spend Time Doing What Really Matters

So, what did we do? We packed the kids in the van and drove an hour and a half away to beautiful Lancaster, PA. We went to our favorite orchard and bought pink lady apples, we discovered a new park surrounded by the most gorgeous fall trees, and we found some leaves to play in. But mostly, we simply enjoyed spending time together as a family.

Sometimes we need to step away from work, take a break from the never-ending to-do list, and just choose to spend time together. We will never regret the time we spend together as a family!

God Uses Trials to Develop Iron in our Souls

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photo credit: Kalen Emsley

Deserts and Prisons

We can’t always make sense of what God is doing in our lives. Sometimes, though, we can begin to see a pattern in the way God deals with people. In the Bible, God sent people to prisons and deserts. Joseph, John the Baptist, Jeremiah, and Paul all went to prison and Moses, Elijah, and David spent time in the desert. A desert and a prison have the same effect– you are cut off from everything you know, the comforts you are used to, and thrown into an entirely new set of circumstances, totally dependent on God.

It’s in the prisons and deserts of life that we learn an entirely new way of depending on God. It’s the place where God begins to show us more of Himself. It was in the desert that God called Moses from the burning bush to return to Egypt and free the Israelites. God revealed the next stage of Elijah’s ministry to him during his time in the desert. When Jeremiah was imprisoned, God spoke to him and gave him the amazing words we comfort ourselves with still today.

Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3

Job’s Story

We see another example of this in the book of Job. While Job’s story doesn’t take him to a literal prison, his circumstances were similar. God took away everything from Job and left him destitute. Job gets to know God in an entirely new way. Job no longer knew about God, he knew God personally. At the end of his trial, Job had this to say.

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Job 42:5

Captivity

There’s an interesting verse at the end of the book of Job that captured my attention recently.

And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10

I think it is so interesting that God calls Job’s testing captivity. It gives us a glimpse into the way God deals with us in trials and testings. The word captivity we can understand. It’s the idea of being a prisoner. God allowed Job to be a prisoner during his time of testing. The time of testing came to an end, and God restored Job’s wealth to him and gave him more children.

What brought about the end of Job’s testing? What happened to Job that God said, “Ok, that’s enough. You passed the test.”?

Iron in Our Soul

I’m not completely sure but I think David may give us a glimpse of it in the Psalms. There’s a really interesting verse in Psalm 105 that talks about Joseph’s time of testing.

He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:

Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. Psalm 105:17-19

The phrase he was laid in iron literally means “his soul came into iron.” He developed iron in his soul. Joseph was not the same person when God finished testing him. What does it mean to have iron in your soul? It carries the idea of spiritual “toughening up.” God knows that we can’t stay the way we are and hope to serve Him faithfully for a lifetime. Life is just too hard. So He sends us into captivity, times of testing to toughen us up, so we will stay faithful in the long run.

Times of Iron Strengthening

I know in my life personally, Matt and I are not the same people we were when we started our church seven years ago. God has used these years of testing to toughen us up, not to have a hard heart but a tough skin. Matt often says that we need to keep a tender heart but grow a thick skin. The ministry is tough. People can be cruel. God does things we don’t understand. If we want to get through all that, we have to keep a tender heart to the Lord but toughen up a little bit. We can’t let hurtful comments, bad days, and heartbreak keep us from what we know the Lord called us to do.

I don’t know what you are going through, but I know that God allows times in our lives when we are held captive and tested beyond what we think we can manage so that He can put iron in our souls.

A Heart of Iron

Two dear friends of mine are in such a time right now. They both have cancer and are clinging to God during this time. They are totally dependent on God as their worlds have come crashing down. As I pray for them and hurt for them, I am watching the iron process taking place. Somehow they are stronger than they were when they started; they have more faith and grace than what they started with. I am watching as God takes them through this process and is refining them and changing them.

I wonder if that’s what Pharoah saw in Joseph when Joseph stood before him in the palace. He saw a man fresh from prison, but he saw in this young man a heart of iron.

My challenge to you and to myself is to not give up and throw in the towel. God is at work refining us. It’s in this refining process that we get to know Him in an entirely new way. It’s in these difficult times of testing that God is developing iron in our soul so that we can stay faithful for a lifetime.

Stepping into the Water and Waiting for a Miracle

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photo credit: Anastasia Taioglou

The Crossing of the Jordan River

Joshua chapter 3 tells the story of the crossing of the Jordan River. God came to Joshua and told him to prepare the people to cross the Jordan River. At this time of year, the Jordan River was at it its highest, overflowing its banks. God gave instructions to Joshua to tell the priests to step into the river. Once their feet stepped into the Jordan, the waters would part, and the Israelites could walk across on dry land. The priests had to stand in the water until everyone had passed over.

And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,)

And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan. (Joshua 3:15,17)

Standing Firm and Holding Our Ground

Rebekah Lyons author of You Are Free writes these words about the account from Joshua 3.

They stepped out in faith. (the priests)

They waited.

God moved.

They stood their ground until everyone was safe.

On that day there was partnership between God and man. God asked Joshua and the priests to step in, to stand firm, to hold their ground. God held back the waters as they remained steadfast.

I stopped and thought about those statements. This miracle only happened because the priests did their part. What would have happened if the priests decided it wasn’t worth the risk? Or what if they had grown tired of standing in the Jordan and decided to step out of the water before all the children of Israel got across? Scholars don’t know for certain how long it would have taken for everyone to get across, but some estimate it could have taken as long as 29 days!

Did the priests take turns standing in the water? I’m not sure how it all worked out, but I do know it was a supernatural act of God that could only be accomplished by the complete obedience of His people.

Standing Firm and Holding Our Ground

Rebekah poses this question next.

Are there places where God asks us to stand firm and hold our ground?

I read that question and stopped. I read it once more and had to stop and think about it. Then I began to unpack it.

Sometimes God asks us to step into the overflowing waters. It doesn’t make sense. We step in and it’s wet and dirty and mucky. Not only are we supposed to step in, but we are supposed to stay there and hold our ground.

Most of us can handle stepping into the water, but staying there? No thank you. I think the craziest thought in all is that the priests had to step in and stay there for everybody else.

Even if we manage to step into overflowing waters and stay there, I think the last part does us in. We are supposed to do it for others, not for ourselves. God asked the priests to hold their ground for everybody else.

Standing in the Waters

Has God asked you to step into the water and hold your ground for somebody else?

Sometimes God chooses people to stand and hold their ground for those who aren’t strong enough to do it themselves. Maybe that’s you. Maybe it’s me. Will we choose to step out in faith and wait for God to move? We can’t give in and throw in the towel because we get weary or frustrated. We are holding our ground waiting for God to work a miracle in our lives and in the lives of those around us. If we give up now, we will miss when God comes through and does the impossible. If you want to quit and need some encouragement, read my post When You Feel Like Quitting.

So today, remember the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan River.

They stepped out in faith.

They waited.

God moved.

Now, fill in your name.

___________________ stepped out in faith.

She waited.

God moved.

Feeling Frustrated? 5 Steps to Combating Frustration

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photo credit: FuYong Hua

Feeling Frustrated

Sometimes we don’t want to stick with what God has called us to do. We grow tired, discouraged, frustrated, and feel like it’s not worth the hard work. For all of us, it’s something different.

Sometimes the frustrations of motherhood take all our energy and leaves us empty. Sometimes it’s ministry that depletes us. We feel like we don’t have anything left to give. There’s little progress to see, and we don’t feel like we are making a difference. Maybe it’s our job. We feel like we are giving everything we have, but it’s just not enough.

Feeling Weary

I felt this way recently. I felt tired. Maybe that’s not the right word. Weary. Do you ever grow weary in life? Weary of trying to make the right decisions, of trying to make everybody happy, of needing to try harder and do more? And yet the harder you try, the worse it seems to get?

A few days ago in my morning time, God encouraged me with this verse.

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; II Corinthians 4:1

God used this verse to remind me that whatever God has given us to do, He will give us the grace to accomplish it. A few verses later, God tells us how we can do our ministry without fainting or quitting.

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. II Corinthians 4:16

Though we feel like we are falling apart on the outside, we can strengthen ourselves internally. Frustration doesn’t have to control us. How can we strengthen our “inward man,” our heart?

5 Steps to Combating Frustration

Spend time each morning reading, journaling, and praying. This is the most important step. God can strengthen our hearts and encourage us when we spend time with Him. If you need inspiration to get started with a morning time, read my post on tips for an effective morning time.
Listen to encouraging and uplifting Christian music. Just as music soothed the spirit of Saul in the Bible, music can soothe our spirit. When I am really irritated and can’t seem to settle, I turn on the Laura Story station on Pandora or the K-Love app on my phone. Rather than staying frustrated, Christian music helps calm us and turn our focus back to God.
Take a nap or go to bed early. Sometimes we just need sleep. It’s amazing how good a nap or a few extra hours of sleep can help us regain perspective and composure.
Spend time with friends or family. Find somebody that is uplifting and encouraging to spend time with. Go grab coffee with a friend, have a game night with a group of friends, have your extended family over for a meal, host a dessert night with friends from church. Do something that pulls you out of your thoughts and head and helps you focus on others.
Get out of your environment. Take a vacation or a day off and drive someplace away from where you live. Often when Matt and I are frustrated, we will use our day off to drive out to Lancaster, PA. It’s about an hour and a half from where we live. Just getting away from the city and out into the country brings us peace. Sometimes we just need to get away from our problems physically to be able to handle them emotionally.

The faster we move our focus off of ourselves and back to God and others, the faster our frustration will fade.

Stopping the Pity Party

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A Pity Party

Recently, I had a party. It was a party that no one else was invited to. It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t pretty. There were no decorations and no cake. It was a good old-fashioned pity party. Ever had one of those?

Often, it seems to surprise us. We seem to be doing okay handling life’s problems and frustrations, and then bam! We start thinking about the unfairness of a situation, how our feelings got hurt, or how things aren’t working out. Before we realize it, we’re in the midst of a full-blown pity party.

The Danger of Self-Pity

Self-pity is a dangerous tool that Satan uses over and over again to bring us to our knees and make us ineffective. Patsy Clairmont, in her book I Second that Emotion, says

Pity is not pretty. Pity is emotional quicksand. I can think of no other feeling that will take you down as quickly. (Patsy Clairmont)

Once we reach the stage of a full-blown pity party, we might as well throw in the towel. We’re done. Self-pity keeps us from stepping into what God has for us, and it keeps us from focusing on those around us. When our problems become too big to us, God becomes small to us. When that happens, Satan has us right where he wants us.

David’s Problems

If anyone deserved to have a pity party, it was David. He was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, putting him in the bullseye of the current king, Saul. Saul threatens David’s life, and now David is on the run.

If I were in this situation, I would be swallowed up in self-pity, I’m sure. I would complain to God. Why me? Where are you, God? What is going to happen to me? Why can’t you just wipe out Saul?

David does have times where he questions God and pours out his frustration to Him. In Psalm 56, we find evidence of this.

Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. 1

Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. 2

Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil. 5

They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul. 6

Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God. 7

David’s Turns his Focus Back to God

Yet David turns quickly from his negative thoughts and focuses his attention back on God.

When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me. (vs. 9)

David understood the power of crying out to God for deliverance and trusted that God would deliver him. I love his boldness. He says, this I know. My favorite part of this verse is the next five words that come out of David’s mouth. …for God is for me.

David had such absolute confidence that God was for him. He doesn’t tiptoe around this truth, hoping and praying that God was for him. He boldly stakes his claim that he knew God Himself was in his corner.

Victory from Self-Pity

The best way to get out of a pit of self-pity is to remember, as David did, that God is for us. We are not a victim of our circumstances; we are children of God. He has perfectly created us and designed us to handle the lives He has given us. So it’s time to take a deep breath, surrender our feelings and frustrations to God, and step forward into what He has for us. God’s got this. He’s for us, and if He is for us, who can be against us?

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Shedding the Hero Complex

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My Favorite Superhero

If you had to pick a favorite superhero, who would it be? I love all the Marvel and D.C. Comics movies. I love watching the good guys crush the bad guys. If I had to pick a favorite, I think I would pick Captain America. He always shows up to save the day. He always does the right thing. No matter the odds, no matter how hopeless the situation, Captain America always rights the wrongs.

The Real Hero

We often forget who the hero in our life is. We have been duped over the years by thinking we are the hero in this story called life. We run around trying to fix people. We spend our time running from one hurt and broken person to the next, pouring out ourselves. We love others, encourage them, try to help them, while thinking that we are the hero in their story. But we have the story turned around. The hero is not us, and it’s not the church. The Hero is Jesus Christ.

We are to introduce people to Jesus. Jesus is the only One who can save us, forgive us, redeem us, and bring us hope and peace. Jesus is the Hero in each and every story.

Getting Tired of Being the Hero

We find ourselves getting discouraged and weary of helping and loving people. We want to stop the pain and the hurt that comes from loving people, from ministering to people because they only hurt us in return. We give and give, only to find no one to give back to us. We give until we are spent and have nothing left to give, yet no one seems to notice or care. It’s no wonder that so many pastors walk away from ministry, faithful church members leave the church, and people get hurt, offended, and fed up with the church.

Paul’s Confession

Paul understood this concept of being spent for people. He understood loving people and being there for them during their time of need. He also understood that the more he gave himself away to people, the more he gave his love away, the less it was returned.

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. II Corinthians 12:15

The Solution

The only way to keep giving and loving others is to remember that we can never be everything that people need us to be. We have to shed the hero complex and realize that we can not fix other people, no matter how much we want to. We have to remember that only God can. Love them, empathize with them, walk through tragedies with them, but always remember to continually point them back to the true hero, Jesus.

photo credit:
Porapak Apichodilok

Knowing When to Wait and When to Move Forward

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Wait or Move Forward?

One of the things I have struggled with over the years is knowing when I am supposed to wait on God and when I am supposed to move forward with something and take the next step. I think that’s because it’s constantly changing. There have been times when God has clearly led me to wait on Him and be patient. There have been other times that God has shown me that He wants me to take the next step.

No matter how many times He has had me do both, it’s still something that I really struggle with. If I am not careful, I lean too hard one way or another.

Waiting on God

There are several verses in the Bible about standing still and waiting on God. Here are a few.

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you today: Exodus 14:13

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. II Chronicles 20:17

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Job 37:14

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: Psalm 37:7

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. Psalm 62:5

Most of the time, I feel that God is urging me to wait, be still, stand still, and wait for him to work. But then sometimes God shakes things up.

Everybody Always

I have been reading Everybody Always by Bob Goff. It is such a great book! I highly recommend it. While I was reading it a few days ago, some of the phrases leaped off the page at me.

What a shame it would be if we were waiting for God to say something while He’s been waiting on us to do something.

So many times we are waiting on God to take the next step. We keep praying and praying, but we don’t get any answer. His voice is silent.

He’s so confident we already know what to do next that He’s willing to be silent even when we ask for His voice.

Sometimes God is confidently quiet. He is confident we have all the information we need. We may not have had experience with the circumstances we’re presently facing, but He’s allowed us to experience a lifetime of other things to prepare us for what is coming next…The moment we take even a tiny shuffle forward, what God is already thinking about is is this: I love you. You’ve got this. You know enough.

Stop Waiting and Take the Next Step

His words really got me thinking. Think about this, the Red Sea didn’t part until Moses stretched his arm out over the water, Naaman wasn’t healed until he dipped seven times in the Jordan River, Goliath wasn’t killed until David picked out five stones and put one into a sling, blind Bartimaeus wasn’t given sight until he cried out to Jesus, the woman with an issue of blood wasn’t healed until she reached out and touched Jesus’ clothes, thousands of people would not have gotten saved if Peter hadn’t chosen to preach at Pentecost.

There are times when God wants us to wait, but there are other times when God wants us to stop waiting and take a step into what He has for us next.

How do we know which one we are supposed to do? Over the years, Matt and I have established some principles to help us make the right decision.

When to Stand Still and Wait

Stand still if you don’t know the next logical step.
Wait when you have no peace about moving forward.
Don’t make any important decisions when you are tired, lonely, discouraged, or depressed. If you feel overcome with any of these feelings, it is not time to take a step.
Stand still if you feel the urge to run, quit, or stop doing what you know you are supposed to be doing right now.

When to Take the Next Step

Move forward if God has shown you the next step. It may be just a tiny step in the right direction. The entire plan may not be visible, and you may not understand it, but you feel God leading you to take the next step.
Go forward when God lines up your circumstances to push you to take the next step. You may not be ready, but circumstances dictate a change.
Take the next step when deep inside your heart, you know God wants you to go in this direction. You may not be able to explain, but you know in your heart that God wants you to do this. He confirms it through reading His Word, through the preaching at church, and through wise counselors.

When God Leads You to Move

When you get stuck in life and can’t decide what to do next, whether to wait or go forward, go back to the last time God led you clearly to do something. Did you follow Him? Did you obey Him? Maybe that is where God is waiting for you.

God has a way of keeping our vision clouded until He suddenly lines everything up and we know what it is we are supposed to do next. Matt has a saying he often tells people… “When God decides to work, He will open a door so wide you can drive a Mac truck through it.” Wait until He makes it clear, then step through that open door and get ready to watch God do the impossible.

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