Have patience with the process? I don’t like process or anything that has drawn-out procedures. I don’t like paperwork. I don’t like waiting in line.
I don’t like those automated phone lines with voice prompts that tell me to press five and then press one and then press…
Maybe I’m just spoiled because I’m the baby of my family. I just want things to happen. I never wanted God to order my steps.
When I’ve petitioned God, I’ve wanted the Almighty to—presto!—send -a blessing, healing, or opportunity. Yet every time, the Creator ordered steps.
God didn’t offer steps as an option. My Maker did not present me a variety of options to choose from. The Lord ordered steps.
As I’ve grown in my Destiny journey, I’m now thankful that God ordered steps. It lets me know I am not moving aimlessly, nor am I moving on my own.
I recognize there is a course for me to take, a divinely orchestrated process. I can’t graduate to the next level until I take the current course and finish it.
At times I’ve prayed for God to design the course my way. That didn’t happen, and I’m glad. I’ve learned that God isn’t just making this up as the Spirit goes.
The Lord ordered steps. Many times I was impatient and prayed that God abort the process. Other times I prayed God would speed things up, put my life on fast-forward.
I’ve prayed to get out of things God wanted me to stay in. God knew I needed the experience of the process.
I’ve prayed that I wouldn’t have to endure some things the Lord has let me endure. Wisdom allowed endurance to mold me.
When I tried to rush the process, God slowed me down, as if saying, “No, you skipped that step. Go back.”
Every time I saw a destination, God saw me and ordered my circumstances to ready me for where I was trying to go.
Accept the process. Your blessing is already ready. It’s already done. God is getting you ready for the blessing, preparing you for your destiny.
The process must be undergone so you can handle what you will face when you get to where you want to go.
God has to guide you through a process to prepare you. You may want children but not be ready to parent. You may wary a spouse but not be ready for marriage.
You’re asking God for more in your life, but you have to learn how to handle what you have.
“Hang in there!” is encouragement to keep pushing forward through stressful and trying times, but that’s easier said than done.
Patience is tough work. It’s hard to keep pressing toward Destiny while everything around you seems to be falling apart.
Difficult to keep loving that man you fell in love with twenty years ago while he’s going through his midlife crisis. You didn’t envision a husband with an earring and tattoos!
But you take your vows seriously, so you hang in there. Or maybe you’re challenged to get up every morning, go to work on time, dedicated and with a good attitude, when you know you’re being set up for termination.
When you took the job, you thought you would retire from that company. But you need your job, so you hang in there.
Or maybe you feel the pain of watching the mother you thought was invincible endure the mental and physical deterioration of Alzheimer’s.
But now it’s your turn to care for her, even though she doesn’t recognize you most days, and you hang in there.
You probably have experienced a time when nothing in your life looks like what you imagined, hoped for, prayed for, planned for, and strategized for. “Hang in there!” is frustrating to hear, but that’s what you have to do.
Destiny means focusing on a vision, seeing what’s not there yet. Don’t let go of it. Your dream may be the only thing that excites you.
And you may have to keep it to yourself. How dare you have a dream? Who are you to imagine for yourself a life that is more interesting, more purposeful, more challenging, or even more opulent?
Don’t get upset if no one understands: just hold tightly to your vision, because no matter who you are, you’re not going to get there overnight.
When it seems Destiny is slipping right through your fingers, tighten your imaginative grasp and declare, “It’s mine and I’m not letting it get away, no matter what I have to go through!”
Many forfeit the hard work of process. They don’t hang in there because life can be very, very hard. They get disenchanted with process because they don’t see results.
They fail to realize they have to grow and circumstances must evolve. They don’t know that the oak tree they imagined is somewhere in the acorn they received.
Process precedes accomplishment. Have the tenacity to endure the process, because what you learn will help you survive when you attain your goal. If you learn to be patient, you will become consistent in your pursuit of Destiny.
Although the Bible says the Lord orders the steps of a good person, most of us are looking for the elevator! God doesn’t promise elevators; the Lord guides steps. The steps strengthen us. So get on the StairMaster and stick with it!
I spent years pastoring a church with little growth. I often wondered if I had what it took to reach a broader audience.
I didn’t understand that while I was trying to build a church, God was trying to build a man! The only way to build the man was to put him in an environment that exercised his faith muscles and built up his experience. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to handle success!
The order of service at Potter’s House is very detailed, down to the minute. One pastor looked at our service schedule and said, “Services at my church are more spontaneous.
There might be an impromptu solo or a testimony.” I responded that the sheer number of worshippers at Potter’s House necessitates a high level of organization.
The more you manage, the more you must prepare. The more you desire, the more process is required. When you ask God for more, accept that more order will be required of you.
If you’re driving a fancy sports car or new hybrid, you can make a quick, swift turn at the spur of the moment. But if you’re driving an eighteen-wheeler, you have to prepare to make that turn.
Have patience with the process? Share your thought below…
