Have you ever had that feeling where you know God wants you to do something more for Him but you are not sure what it is?
That’s where I am.
God has been tugging on my heart to not only do more for Him, but be more for Him. I’ve been questioning Him, wondering specifically what He wants me to do. Here’s the problem…I need to be patient and listen more intently to God to understand His desires of me. I am naturally a very impatient person, so this is an extremely difficult position that I am in. I want to know right now.
I am sure that God is smiling down upon me shaking His head knowing that His child is struggling with this patience business. He knows that I am impatient. He knows my weaknesses and my strengths. He knows where I have been and He knows where I am going. He has plans for me.
Plans? For me? That is simply amazing.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
God wants the very best for each of us. He wants us to have joy and happiness. He wants us to succeed through Him. He does not want us to hurt, but instead wants us to grow in the Light. He is a loving Father who has created a special future for each of His children.
Be patient. Listen to Him. Focus your life on praising Him. He will provide. He will lead. He will give us the answers we need in His perfect timing.
I will continue to listen knowing that God has the perfect future for me planned out. His plans for us are more amazing than what we could create for ourselves. That is worth being patient for.
By: Shelbey Kendall, This Smiling Heart
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I hear you on the impatience! I always struggle with the waiting as well, especially when I feel like there’s something I should be doing or that God has a new direction for me – I just want to get started on whatever it is! But you’re very right – His timing is always on purpose, and learning to wait gracefully and in faith is a crucial skill… however hard it may be at the time. 🙂
I completely agree with you….it is a crucial skill that we all need to practice. 🙂
… oh I am resonating with what you’re saying. being in His waiting room can be excruciating, because we want those answers, that direction NOW!
http://creeksideministries.blogspot.com/2009/05/waiting-room.html
but maybe it’s during the waiting room seasons that He stretches us most, teaches us the deepest lessons, allows us to learn what faith is all about.
Thank you for expressing so well what so many of us have experienced along the way.
I could have written this. This is exactly where I am right now in my life. Thanks for sharing.
You are telling my story with this post. I too struggle with patience. I have participating in the One In A Million study by Priscilla Shirer and she teaches the importance of waiting on God and not doubting. Everyday I learn more and more from the homework. I want to be a person who trusts God in during the quiet times of waiting and do it like Jamie mentioned, with grace. I want to “Be still and know that He is God.” Psalm 46:10. Thank you for posting this. I really needed to read it today. Blessings.
I am so glad that this touched you. 🙂 It is amazing how God uses each of us to encourage each other along our own journeys.
I am there as well. Patience really does work faith in us. He really wants us to know his plans when execution time comes. I take comfort in the fact He knows all.
I am so here right now! I know that I need to be doing something else that glorifies Him, but am having to wait (and rather impatiently) for Him to open that next door for me to step through. Thanks for speaking my heart this morning!
I was in awe as I read your post today. This is exactly where I am… right where you are.
On my way in to work this morning, I realized that I have been feeling the hand of God gently nudging me towards something… what? I don’t know… but He has lead me to lead the pre-teen girls ministry at church. Even though I LOVE what I’m doing here (I felt him calling me to do this for 10 years!! before the doors were opened) I still feel Him leading me to something else, something bigger perhaps? Not away from what I’m currently doing, but in addition to it.
All in His time…
I feel like I start to walk down God’s plan, I get scared, so then I stop and change direction. The thoughts in my mind are leading me down the path again but in a new way. I believe my “false starts” were really leading me to where I am going now. Though impatience plagues me as I await for what my new job will be and where I can finally use my gifts and studies. It can be tough but that’s part of the journey.
Waiting never gets easy, but trusting makes it endurable 🙂
Trusting God, of course!
I don’t know if it’s God getting me ready to serve Him or if I am just wanting Him to change me and my circumstances. How do you know the difference?
Listen to what is BEING placed within your center.
Love Wendy
I think that when God is wanting you to serve Him…you will know. He has a way of nudging us in the direction He wants us to go. We just have to decide if we are going to listen and follow through with what He wants. It can be difficult if you are wanting change and it is easy to jump at any change and say, “this is what God must have provided for me”. Waiting is a difficult thing, but sometimes part of God’s plan is wanting us to wait, to learn that patience, so that when He finally shows you what He wants of you you are deeply grateful and ready to serve him with all that you are. 🙂 I hope that helps!
Thank you for writing so beautifully and honestly about what so many of us are experiencing. Waiting for God’s timing and direction is such a difficult task. It’s very hard to focus on “being” and not on “doing,” and yet many times that is just what God wants from us…to stay in a holding pattern for a while instead of moving on. He’ll let us know when it’s time to move…only if we’re listening!
Aw! Thank you so much for the compliment Diane. 🙂 Waiting is one of the things that I think many of us struggle with. It isn’t fun to wait when we live in such a fast-paced world.
[…] Kendall, one of the (in)courage writers, posted a blog this morning about this very thing. “That Tugging Feeling” is a great perspective of “in God’s perfect time”. After you read her […]
I’ve claimed that Jeremiah verse as mine this year. And it’s not because things are just going swimmingly and everyone is happy. Far from actually. I’m the CEO of a home of 3, the others being husband and son, all with disabilities of overlapping and different natures. Not a bed of roses, but God gave me that verse very clearly this year. I clung to that through the 9 days of hospitalization that ended when I insisted I was ready to go home and at least have supper with my family on Easter. I was wrong and have slowed my recovery by my willfulness. My struggle is the opposite of yours though; I’m an online missionary and find the best I can do is answer out of obligation using formats supplied. I don’t believe that’s how God wants a missionary to share His Word. I’ve prayed and not gotten the clear “stay the course” I hoped, the fleece I put out. So we’re sort of in the same boat- the “Uncertain”.
Beautifully written….thank you!
Beautiful expression of faith Shelbey…this is exactly what I have been going through recently…the waiting and being patient part! I’m so glad that He is in control and His plan for our future is more than we could ever imagine…That is one of my all-time favorite scriptures! Thank you for sharing….
Shelbey,
Jeremiah 29:11 is my life verse. Like you I am impatient also. I want to know what plans He has for me & now!
I am in the waiting game also. It is truly amazing how patient He can be with us–if only we would recognize it and claim that same patience to wait for the goodness that He has in store for each of us.
Thanks for a great post!!
I have been so blessed by the recent posts of (in)courage. I feel like every single post in the last week has struck some part of my heart and really challenged me to dig deeper into the heart of God. Thank you for being used by God to bring inspiration and challenging the hearts of women.
Jeremiah 29:11 has long been my favorite verse. Thanks for the reminder to be patient and that He WILL provide!
There are times I feel God tugging at my heart even after my short comings. I sometimes think of him as wrathful and vengeful and I fear him greatly, but despite all that his mercy is unfathomable. I have offended him many times before, and turned my back on him, but he still chooses to keep me alive. I guess he is very patient. It defies all logic why God allows the most vile sinners to live continually knowing that God is so holy and just. I think we can learn a lot about patients from that.