Hey Friend,
Do you sometimes feel like you’re running behind, like you need to catch up?
Are you discontent with certain areas of your life?
Do you feel like you’re the only person on the planet who hasn’t gotten married, had a baby, started a business, figured out how to grow your business, lost the baby weight, figured out this parenting thing, written a book, discovered your purpose, learned to manage your time better, blah, blah, blah?
As a coach and a friend to several women, I’m learning that we all (or most of us) at times feel like we are failing at life.
Listening to the inner dialogue of these women, I started to wonder where all of this was coming from.
The first place I started searching for answers was the Scripture. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it says you must be married by 25, have a baby by 27, another kid by 29, and the third child by 35.
I don’t see anywhere where it says you must be working and living out some grand purpose before 40, have your house in perfect condition 24/7, and cook a full course meal every other day or else you’re a failure, you’re out of time, or you need to catch up. Can you find any of this anywhere in your Bible? Because I must be missing a few chapters in mine.
Intrigued, I wanted to dig a little deeper.
As I began to study, it was placed on my heart to address this issue because I can understand how – with the world running behind man-made laws where you have your life planned out and expect it to go as planned – if your life doesn’t go as planned you feel like a failure. But the irony is that I’m hearing a lot of this from Christians; including myself.
Would you include yourself in this category as well? Where you sometimes forget that you are not under man-made laws, nor man-made time clocks or biological clocks?
I breathed a sigh of relief once I started reading what God had to say about my life and His plans for me. It is good news that I don’t have to plan my own life. Because honestly the world’s system results in inevitable frustration and depression because it’s not realistic to think that life will always go as planned.
Let’s look at a few scriptures that prove this point:
Proverbs 16: 9: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
Proverbs 19: 21: “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Jeremiah 29:11: “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.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
Isaiah 28:29: “All this comes from the Lord Almighty, whose plan is wonderful, whose wisdom is magnificent.”
These scriptures remind us that we can relax and let go of the picture-perfect idea in our heads of how we think our lives should go. We don’t have to compete, connive, or get our underwear in a bunch because such-and-such is outdoing us, or has three kids and we don’t even have one yet.
When you lose your peace of mind and are full of anxiety because you feel left behind, the enemy will create a false sense of urgency in your life to make you take matters into your own hands. He knows that if you wait on God, you just might reach your God-given destiny and be so happy that you tell everyone your testimony.
Just take Eve for example.
The enemy convinced Eve in the garden that she was missing out by not eating from the one tree that God had forbidden. She had so many other trees to choose from, but she was focused on the one thing that she couldn’t/didn’t have. I believe in modern day terms we call it F.O.M.O (fear of missing out).
What has the enemy convinced you that you NEED to have in your life right now that seems out of reach? What is he whispering to you about the time it’s taking for God to show up and answer that prayer? Are you just about out of patience and ready to take matters into your own hands? You know, to help God out?
Well let me remind you of how Eve’s act of disobedience ruined God’s perfect plan for her and for mankind.
We all know how the story ends. Eve walks right out from under God’s perfect will for her life and into the will of the enemy by eating that forbidden fruit. His plan worked and God’s plan for her life, along with ours, changed forever that day. Thankfully, God also had another plan, but we still must suffer the consequences for that one act of rebellion.
Today the enemy has an easier job because we have social media and other ways of being bombarded with images of what we don’t have, and with pictures of everybody’s “perfect” life.
The internet and social media will have you walking straight out of the will of God, all in the name of “catching up.” Friend, don’t fall for the traps of comparison, competition, discontent, or any other traps set out to destroy God’s perfect plan for your life.
I can assure you that God has a plan for your life. Even if you feel you have messed up so many times, He can, and will, redeem the time and restore the plan for your life.
Today, decide to trust God and His perfect timing in your life. Decide to make the pursuit of peace your new normal by focusing on what God is doing in your life, instead of what it seems He is not doing.
Take a break from social media, certain television shows, and anything that is planting seeds of discontent in your heart. Trust that God’s plan – as well as His timing of it – for your life is perfect.
Friend, you are not running behind; you are right on schedule. As long as you don’t hop off the train too soon, you will reach your destination. And it will be worth the wait.
Wait on God.
Until next time,
Tiffany