How are you letting your impatience redirect your path?  Perhaps you can relate to this.  God led you to do something.  You are walking along in what God called you to do and then you get to a point where you’re so frustrated, exhausted, and/or confused that you want to quit.  You were on board for following God when the calling was fresh, new, and exciting.  You were on board for walking in your purpose until all that stress, anxiety, and strain continued knocking at your door.  You were on board with walking by faith until what you saw was seemingly so far removed from what God promised you that you couldn’t see the connection.  (Side note: Remember God really does keep all of His promises regardless if you think it will take a miracle or not.  God has ALL power.)  You were on board until things seemed to be taking longer to accomplish, move, create, build, grow than you wanted to wait.

Let’s be honest.  Many of us have had moments when we allowed our impatience to cloud our judgment, shake our faith, and misguide us.  Instead of operating in faith, we convinced ourselves that we needed to do things ourselves and on our own timeline.  That not so subtle form of disobedience may have been rooted in an unwillingness to wait on God’s perfect timing, or even an unwillingness to trust that God will do what He said He will do.  We were seeking a temporary solution without valuing the long-term implications.  We had faith, but we weren’t acting like it.  Why?  God’s timing made us uncomfortable.

Here are six things that your impatience leads you to do (if you let it):

1. Causes you to walk in what you see instead of who you believe in.  Hebrews 11 talks about faith in action and begins by saying, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV).  If faith was based on what we saw and could do for ourselves, we would be in trouble.  God is capable of far more than we could ever imagine.  Trust God’s timing because there is a reason for it.
2. Convinces you to quit in the midst of the very preparation you need to go to where God is taking you.  The preparation God puts you through is no accident.  God’s timing and process regarding your growth strengthens your foundation.  All the things added in the future can stand firm on a foundation that is properly prepared and maintained.  With so much value relying on a strong foundation, you don’t want to take a shortcut and just build your house on sand.
3. Leads you to stress because you don’t have all of the answers.  You don’t need to have all of the answers.  In fact, you won’t ever have all of the answers.  Why did you have to wait years (or days, weeks, months, or decades) for something?  Because God knew exactly what you needed and when you needed it.  You thought you were ready, but God knew better.  God has all of the answers.  God does not need to operate on your timeline to take you to where He is leading you.  Also, God loves you enough to have you wait for something if you need to wait.  (Live a while and this last part may make a little more sense.)
4. Encourages you to devote your time and resources to things that God never called you to do.  Impatience takes up time that is better spent on what God is actually calling you to do.  For example, you may find impatience leading you to create a fifth back up plan to something God never led you to do.  You begin to pour hours and days into writing, researching, and developing this “fifth back up plan” while neglecting the work God called you to do in that moment.
5. Gets you distracted. Impatience will distract you.  Impatience may make you compare your life to those around you.  You begin to feel that you are somehow behind because you are not “achieving” what others are achieving.  Your focus then turns to how you can match or exceed what your neighbor is accomplishing.  When your life doesn’t move at the same speed as others, you get further distracted.  Remember God has a plan for each of us and His plans for us have different timelines.
6. Wrongfully convinces you to try to be your own savior.  You didn’t get up on that cross for your sins.  Jesus did that for you. You didn’t create the world.  God did that.  You didn’t save yourself.  So, you don’t need to try to do things in your own strength.  God invested a lot in you because He loves you.  Run to the Father and not your impatience.

Thank God for His grace, mercy, and patience.  As frustrating as it may be to operate on a timeline that is different from what YOU want, remember that you’re not operating on just anyone’s timeline.  You are operating on God’s timeline.  God is faithful, knows all, and loves you.  God works miracles, wants the best for you, and is available 24/7.

Blessings and Love,
PurposeOverFear

*Picture in this post is from pixabay.com.