Day 19: "While I'm Waiting"

Most of our lives are made up of waiting for something. Lunch. Coffee. Graduation. Marriage. Kids. Bedtime. Vacation. Our turn. We can get so caught up in the thing that we're waiting for that we miss the rest of our life. For example, a roller coaster is not typically a very time consuming experience. The ride may last 2-3 minutes, if you're lucky, but you could spend hours in line. If we spent our time in line being miserable and whining about how slowly the line is moving, we could miss out on something more important. We're probably not in a super long line by ourselves, so we could spend the time in line talking with our park buddies. Or the people next to us in line could need encouragement or a reminder that day. If we spend all of our time on our phones or focused on ourselves, we could miss out on a great opportunity to minister to someone near us.

In life, if we're focusing only on the next thing, we're never going to be happy in our present state. If we're so consumed with the next phase of life we'd like to be in, we will miss out on the beauty of life right now. Sometimes we're left waiting on an answer from God. We think we understand what needs to happen and we think we know when and how it needs to happen. We forget sometimes that we are not God and we don't know everything. Our timing is not perfect, but God's timing is. Our plans are not perfect, but God's plans are. We are really, really good at messing things up by trying to do them our own way instead of waiting on God. Look at Abraham and Sarah. God told Abraham he would be the father of many nations and that Sarah would have a baby. They were super old, so they doubted. Eventually they took matters into their own hands and created a giant mess for themselves filled with jealousy and bitterness. If they had just waited and trusted God to keep His promise, their lives would have been happier and more peaceful. Every time we think we know better than God, we're in trouble. It may not be evident immediately, but hindsight will show us that we should have just waited and trusted God to keep His promises. God cannot lie to us. He is perfect and holy and cannot be in the presence of sin. If God says it, He will do it. Our job is just to listen and obey. It should be easy because God is doing all the work, but we make it so much harder on ourselves. We are sheep and sheep are not the smartest animals, but we have a Good Shepherd who loves us and knows what is best. We need to listen and follow Him. We can patiently wait, but our waiting can also be active. We don't have to just sit on our hands and do nothing. God has not put us up on a shelf until the next thing is ready for us. He can use us in the waiting time. We can still worship Him even when we're confused and afraid. And we can always praise Him regardless of what stage we're in.

"While I'm Waiting"

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am hopeful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it is painful, but patiently I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord
And I am peaceful, I'm waiting on You Lord
Though it's not easy no, but faithfully I will wait
Yes, I will wait

And I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race even while I wait

I will move ahead bold and confident
I'll be taking every step in obedience, yeah

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint

And I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You Lord

I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting

Day 30: Real Life

Sometimes real life gets in the way of your plans. And I think that's okay.

Sometimes real life is WAY more important than plans because most of the time real life involves people.

And people are always more important than plans.

Brakes.

Do you ever feel like your life is moving a lot faster than you'd like? Kind of the same feeling you got as a kid when you're riding your bike or a skateboard or a sled down a hill and you suddenly realize you're no longer in control? You have two choices: bail out or ride it out. Both carry their own dangers and consequences and uncertainties. If you bail, you might miss the best part, and who knows what you'll hit when you try to stop. If you ride it out you could end up hurting, or you could coast to a gentle stop. There's risk in both bailing and sticking with it. And whichever you end up choosing, you never know what would've happened if you had gone with the other option.

Life is a lot like that sometimes. This summer, someone asked me where I was from, and I just looked at them because I could not think of the right answer. My instinct was to say "Nashville", but I haven't lived there in a year and a half. So even though it's where I'm ORIGINALLY from, it's not the answer anymore. Even though I moved away a while ago, not living there is still an adjustment. Every. Day.

There are times that I think life would be easier if I just moved back. And it probably would. But when I chose to follow Jesus, I gave up on having an easy life. Following Jesus means that I have to be uncomfortable sometimes. So I find my comfort in Him. It means I have to be uncertain sometimes. So I find truth and certainty in Him. It means I have to be exhausted and spent sometimes. So I find rest in Him. If I moved back to Nashville, between me and the people who love me there, we could figure out what the whole rest of my life would look like. I'm sure it would be very sweet and easy. However, I don't want that life. I want the life that God has designed for me. I don't have a clue what that looks like past today, but I'm sticking it out and hanging on. I want to see where this one goes. I bail out of scary things a lot. But I'm not doing it this time. I know without a doubt that the Lord's plans for me are way, way, way better than anything I could ever plan for myself.

This morning Christine Caine tweeted this:

"To avoid burnout, 

ensure you are doing what God wants you to do, 

not what everyone else wants you to do."

So that's what I want. What God wants. Not what I want for me. Not what you want for me. I want what God has. The End.

Loves.