The last letter of the SMART Goal process is “T” and just like regular SMART Goals, timely is STILL timely, but with God’s time in mind, NOT our own! Are your goals focused on God’s will and His time frame? Continue taking action, but realize that your timetable is not God’s. Submit to His will and time frame. He may want things done earlier or later than you planned. Be patient and have faith that if it is truly meant to happen, it will when the time is right.
As I’ve mentioned several times over the last few weeks, when talking about goal setting, our timing isn’t God’s timing. For us, God’s timing often feels like a long, desperate delay. God’s perfect timing does two things: It grows our faith as we are forced to wait and trust in God and it makes certain that He, and He alone, gets the glory and praise for pulling us through. We spend a lot of time in our lives waiting, because change is a process. I personally have NO problem with change, but I can’t say I appreciate the waiting process. I’m fairly impatient and have many mistakes running ahead of God. The truth is, waiting is a given—we are going to wait. The question is…Are we going to wait the wrong or right way? If we wait the wrong way, we’ll be miserable; but if we decide to wait God’s way, we can become patient and enjoy the wait. It takes practice, but as we let God help us in each situation, we develop patience, which is one of the most important Christian virtues. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit and it’s developed only under trial, so we must not run from difficult situations.
Lamentations 3:25-26 (NIV)
25
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;26
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
So, What… for This Week?
God gives us hopes and dreams for certain things to happen in our lives, but He doesn’t always allow us to see the exact timing of His plan. God’s training period simply requires us to do what He tells us to do when He tells us to do it…without questioning or trying to figure everything out. Take ONE step today and be patient!
A very timely message. Thank you 😊