Tag Archives: waiting

5 Ways to Know that Now is the Right Time

Collecting Leaves

We worked on a leaf collection this week for school. I think it’s probably my favorite project of the year. When I was young, it was my favorite project for school; and I love collecting leaves even more now as an adult. I love wondering through the woods, looking for the most beautiful leaves in reds, golds, yellows, oranges, and all the shades in between.

I sat for a few minutes in the car before I got out at one of our parks. As I sat and watched, the wind blew and leaves began to fall all around the park. It was absolutely beautiful, and it made me think about the process of falling leaves.

Leaves Falling

What I think is amazing is that leaves stay on the trees all throughout spring and summer. During those two seasons, the winds blow, storms come, rain dumps on them, and still they hold on. The leaves don’t fall off the trees. Yet, as soon as winter gets close, the tiniest little breeze can shake the leaves off the trees.

Why do leaves fall so easily this time of year and yet hang on so tightly to their branches even in the midst of terrible storms earlier in the year? It all comes down to one thing.

Timing.

Timing

It’s such a good picture of how God works in our lives. We can try to do things on our own, in our own power, and it just doesn’t work out. God leads us to do something or to take on something, and it doesn’t take off. We get tired, discouraged, and want to give up.

And then there’s the time when things just go forward, and everything comes together. God works in ways you couldn’t dream of, and you sit back and watch him work. What’s the difference between the two?

Timing.

Different Seasons

You might have the right idea, the right plan, and the right people; but it may just not be the right timing. And sometimes we don’t figure that out until it comes together later, and we sit back and see…oh, this is when it was supposed to happen.

So how do you know when it’s the right timing? How do you know if the right timing is now or if you should wait? The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that life is all about seasons; there’s a right time to do things.

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

God’s Guiding

The only way to know God’s perfect timing is to pray about it, to seek his face and his guidance. I often pray through Proverbs 3:5,6 when I’m trying to get God’s guidance.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.

Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5,6 NLT

Here are five ways that’s God’s used in my life over the years to help me know if it’s the right time for something.

5 Ways to that Now is the Right Time

You feel in your heart of hearts like God is leading you to do this now.
Everything you are reading in your morning time routine, is pointing you in this direction.
The sermons you listen to, and the books you read all seem to be saying things that point in this direction.
Your spouse and or other family members are on board and supportive.
God has already started to move on your behalf, even if it’s something small.

If you can relate to these five ways, then it’s time to move forward! Step out in faith and see what God is going to do!

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, Knowing When to Wait and When to Move Forward or check out Matt’s book, Momentum.

Waiting on God to Write Your Story

Copying Someone Else’s Story

Sometimes it seems like life would be easier if we could just write our own story, or copy somebody else’s story for our life. Instead of waiting, if we could just force God’s hand to make things happen, surely that would be better than what we’re stuck with right now.

We know that God writes our story. We know the verses, we know the sayings…but when push comes to shove, life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. It’s really hard to see how it’s all going to work together for good.

Hard Conversations

I’ve had a few conversations with friends lately that were painful…conversations nobody wants to have. Hard conversations. Things like—what do you do when your spouse withholds his love from you? What do you do when your spouse cheats on you? How do you keep going forward when nothing seems to be working out? How do you trust God when it seems like he keeps failing you?

I used to think I had all the answers; that was before I learned what real life looked like. Real life is dirty and messy and full of questions. It’s not all neat and wrapped up with a bow that has a neatly transcribed verse on the side of the box and a pithy saying like “let go and let God” written on the top. No, life is full of mistakes, regrets, failures, and messes. It doesn’t always work out the way we think it should.

Things Don’t Always Work Out

No matter how much we pray, sometimes we still lose the job, we can’t pay the bill, we don’t have enough money for that present, the breakup still happens, our spouse still hurts us, a friend breaks our heart, the loved one still dies, and on and on the list goes.

I’m sure you could add your own heartbreak. Often, it feels like life would be easier if we could just force our own breakthrough. If we could superimpose God’s will for our will and get things moving, it would really help.

People Who Didn’t Wait

I can’t help but think about the people in the Bible who simply gave up too early. If only they could have waited just a little bit longer.

I think of Saul. He waited and waited for Samuel to show up to offer the sacrifice, but Samuel was late. Saul got impatient and decided to do it himself. The Bible says that as he was offering the sacrifice, Samuel showed up. If Saul would have waited just a few minutes longer, he wouldn’t have missed God’s best. What did it cost him? The kingdom. God was so displeased with Saul’s disobedience that he took the kingship from him and gave it to David.

Another example is Abraham. God told him he would have a son, but he wasn’t content to wait on God. He decided to write his own breakthrough into the story and royally messed up all of history. Because he didn’t wait for God to bless him and Sara with a baby but instead slept with Sara’s servant, Ishmael was born. A few years later, Abraham and Sara had Isaac. Ishmael’s descendants and Isaac’s descendants are still at war today.

Those Who Waited

Conversely, we see God’s hand of blessing on Joseph who waited through years of bad treatment and harsh consequences before God broke through. In the end, God wrote a beautiful story for him.

David waited for nearly fifteen years from the time he was anointed king to when he actually became king of Israel. He stayed faithful to God and didn’t waver from God’s path. In the end, his story played out beautifully.

Wait for God to Write Your Story

We get impatient and want to write our own story, but we can’t. Our story won’t look nearly as beautiful as the one God is writing; it will simply be a copy and pasted version of somebody else’s story.

We have to choose to wait for God to write our story. Wait for him to give us our own. I promise it will be more beautiful than anything we could have written for ourselves.

For More Encouragement

For more on this topic, check out my husband’s book, Breakthrough: Transforming the Death of a Dream to the Birth of a Breakthrough or read my post Choosing Hope: The Best is Yet to Come.

A song that’s really been encouraging my heart lately is Weary Traveler by Jordan St. Cyr. Give it a listen and let it encourage your heart.

Don’t Give Up on Your Heart’s Desire

Our Dream to Start a Church

When Matt and I got married, we knew we wanted to be church planters. Matt was an intern at a church at the time, but our goal was to leave and start a new church. We figured it would only be about a year and a half. Four and a half years later, we were still working at the same church and the dream of starting a church seemed lost. We still had the desire, but God just wasn’t opening the door. We were so discouraged and hopeless.

Five years! That’s how long it took. It took five years for God to open the door for us to be able to leave that church and start a church in the greater Philadelphia area. We didn’t think it would ever happen, but we stayed faithful and God brought it to pass.

Waiting for Your Heart’s Desire

I don’t know how long it has been that you have been waiting for something to happen. Maybe it’s a baby, maybe you want to get married, to start your own business, to begin a ministry opportunity, to move to a new house… whatever it is, don’t give up on that dream!

Here are a few verses of encouragement to remind us not to give up on waiting for our heart’s desire.

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Psalm 37:4-7 KJV

There are a few simple truths in these verses that I use over and over again to encourage myself and other women.

1. If I am truly focused on God, He will fulfill my desire, or He will change the desire.

When I delight in the Lord, He will fulfill my heart’s desire. The word delight means to receive pleasure in. When we take pleasure in developing a relationship with God, He will, in turn, fulfill our desires.

Sometimes this train of thought gets Christians tripped up. These verses don’t say that God is a vending machine, and if we put in the appropriate amount of money, exactly what we desire will come out. It’s deeper than that. If we are truly focusing on developing a better relationship with God, our desires are going to change to line up with His desires for us.

What does this look like practically? I often use these verses when talking to singles who want to be married. Either a relationship will come in time, or God will take away that desire and replace it with a desire to be single. In the mean time, they can focus on their relationship with God, while simultaneously praying and seeking out a relationship.

2. If I commit what I am doing to the Lord and entrust it to Him, He will bring it pass.

Focus on what God wants me to do whether in my life’s purpose or even just in what He has for me for the day, and let Him work out all the details.

I often quote this verse to God on a day when I am overwhelmed with a task or an event or even just a forever-long to-do list for the day. I pray through what I am trying to accomplish and surrender it to Him. Then I get to work, and God always carries me through.

3. I can be at rest while I am waiting patiently on God because I know He is working on my behalf.

The hardest thing in life is waiting. Whether it’s the little things in life like waiting in a long drive-through line, waiting to get a prescription filled, or waiting to check out at the grocery store. Or whether it’s more difficult than that… waiting for God to answer a prayer, waiting for God to heal a loved one, waiting for Him to provide financially once again. Waiting is hard. The Bible says that when a desire has not come to fruition, our heart is sick. But once the desire comes, it is a tree of life!

Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” KJV

Waiting for God to work can make or break our faith in life’s hardest moments. When the time comes that the only answer we have is to wait for God to work, we can delight in Him, commit the problem to Him, and then sit back and wait for God to work.

photo credit: Artem Bali

Faithfully Stepping

Encouragement for Women on their Journey of Faith