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God's Perfect Timing

Wow, deep breath. Maybe this is not a conversation that the rest of you all needed to hear as much as I did, but this has been something that God has constantly been teaching me in my walk with Him. Namely, I need to let go of my plans and trust them in His hands. More than that, though, and what I want to focus on today is that we can trust the Lord with His timing. Even if He wants to work with our plans, He may not desire for us to run on our own timeline. Instead, He wants us to take a step back and trust that He has a plan, as He always does.  There are three key promises we need to remember to guide us through this journey of understanding His timeline: Trust, Patience, and Faithfulness. 

TRUST: 

I can trust the Lord. He is the Creator of the Universe, for Pete's sake! Trusting something small, such as my car, in the hands of someone trustworthy yet human, like my friend or parents, can be a challenge. However, trusting something that is not even mine (such as my life) with the Creator who perfectly holds the whole world (God) is such a challenge for me. A book I have read during this season calling "Trusting God" by Joanna Weaver, has given me much to ponder. While I do not agree with everything she mentioned in this book, the premise of the fact that our trust in the Lord impacts all of our areas of life, is so true. How we chose to worship, what we focus on in our scripture reading, how we pray, how we treat others, etc. The list goes on. All of these areas are impacted by the way that we view, and trust, God. 

PATIENCE: 

God asks for me to be patient as I trust Him. This is seen all over scripture. In fact, patience is a pray of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. It is a quality that we Christians should naturally emit when we are confident in the hope of the Lord. I should be able to be patient with the Lord, especially when I trust Him. But patience, especially when waiting for what we believe to be a good thing, is a challenge no matter who you are. 

The added struggle of the test of patience is that there is not a "countdown screen" that we can watch. We are not told when the pain we are going through, or the "season of waiting" will be over. We just have to trust that it will one day come to an end. I know that Romans 8:18 is a verse that has given me hope in seasons of waiting- even if it does not work out the way I want it to, life in God's care in heaven will be worth whatever I went through on earth in the Lord's name. 

FAITHFULNESS: 

Finally, this is not something that falls in my court. Instead, "faithfulness" is a quality that belongs to the Lord. It is not something that He needs to "strive" to complete. Instead, it is a part of His character- it will never change! Coincidentally, this is also a part of the fruit of the Spirit. We can share faithfulness with others, just as God has been faithful to us. Just like we can love others because Christ first loved us. Or, that we can love the way that God loves because of the way that He made us (1 Corinthians 13). 

But, even better than that, we can know that God is faithful, even when we are not. 2 Timothy tells us so! But, He is faithful to His character, not to our desires and dreams. What may be challenging to learn (and re-learn and remember) is that God's plan and our (my) dream will not always line up. In fact, when they do that is a good thing! But, when they do not line up, it is always better to be on God's plan. 


So, all of this being said, I am working on choosing to trust God. I am working on choosing to be patient even when I want to operate on my timeline. I am choosing to be faithful to what God has placed in front of me, knowing that His character is to be faithful to Himself, no matter what I do. I am praying that the Lord will give me His heart- His desires. That I will always seek to follow Him, no matter where He places me (and whenever He places me where He does). This will not be easy. But, it will be good. 

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