Trusting God’s Timing… An Ongoing Struggle.
“Faith over fear. Trust God’s perfect timing. His plan is perfect. Surrender it all to Him.”
Easier said than done, right? At least for me it is. I say these things all the time in my posts, and I have a really hard time with actually living them out.
I seem to have a bad habit of trusting God after He’s done the thing I was waiting for.
Yes, I know. That’s completely backwards and besides the point. But this has been my struggle on almost a daily basis lately.
It’s really easy to thank God for things He’s done for us, but it’s not so easy to actually surrender our plans to Him. And I’ll say this again, it has to do with a fear of not having control or “knowing what to do.”
Every time I feel like I’m at a crossroads or have some sort of decision I feel like I need to make, I do a lot more talking and thinking and a lot less listening. I often feel like I need to “figure things out and have a plan,” which, sure, can help sometimes. But I think in reality I need to be a lot more still. I need to just take everything a day at a time, be where I am, and pray for direction and guidance in making the next right choices.
And to be honest, I don’t really know exactly how to do that yet. At least not well. Hence the ongoing struggle. But, we are all learning, and we are all at different places in our walks with God. We are all waiting on different things, whether they be jobs, family or friend struggles, picking the next place to live or waiting for an illness to be healed. Life is messy, and it’s easy to want to try to clean it up ourselves, when in reality the only way to find peace in our mess is by totally giving it to God.
God knows our story. Sometimes we like to try to play the part of “author” in a book that’s already been written. Yes, we have free will; but God is “free-er.” We can make our plans, but God directs our footsteps (Proverbs 16:9).
When I look back at the circumstances and situations and happenings of my life that were less than ideal at the time, it’s much easier to see why those things happened. It’s almost like an “aha!” moment when I realize that the struggles I faced actually led me to the beautiful things that I am so grateful for today. And so, why should I not trust God in the midst of my struggles that some day, I might understand the bigger picture?
I often try to remind myself about the story of the disciples in the boat during the storm:
Jesus Calms the Storm
23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
26He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
I can just imagine Jesus asking me, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” And it reminds me that He is in control, and I have nothing to fear.
