God-Sized Dreams: A 30-Day Journey of Faith and CourageSample

What to Do While You’re Waiting On Your Dreams

When we start pursuing a dream, we have a timeline in mind. We may even pull out a calendar and circle the due date. We imagine what it will be like to finally live in our new reality. Then our deadline comes and goes, and we’re still waiting.

What can we do in those in-between seasons?

1.Get wise advice. I’ve spent a lot of time waiting in the last few years, and I keep hoping God will start using email. Then I’ll just get up every morning, and his agenda will be sitting in my inbox.

While that hasn’t happened yet, I have noticed that words from wise people in my life (through email or otherwise) often do lead me to the answer God has for me.

Don’t be afraid to ask others for their perspective. “Victory is won through many advisers” (Prov. 11:14 NIV).

2.Pay attention to the details. I’m a big-picture kind of thinker. I think God should do the whole “handwriting on the wall” thing more often, don’t you?

But it seems uncovering his will is often more like connect-the-dots. So when I’m in seasons of waiting, I journal more. I write down every little thing that I think he’s saying to me. Over time, a pattern often emerges that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s often the little things that lead us to the big ones.

3.Don’t put the rest of your life on hold. When I’m waiting on God in one area, sometimes I come to a screeching halt in every area of my life. But it’s hard to steer a parked car.

Sometimes we find what we’re waiting on along the way—not when we stay. I love how Isaiah 40:31 says those who wait on the Lord will run and not grow weary and walk and not faint. There can still be a lot of movement going on during the waiting.

4.Forget the fear. Sometimes we think we’re “waiting on God” when really we’re just waiting for the fear to go away. Here’s a hint: it won’t. The enemy will tell you that courage means the absence of fear as you move ahead. It doesn’t.

Faith means feeling the fear and moving ahead into God’s will anyway. (Remember Jesus sweating drops of blood before he went to the cross?)

5.Be grateful for where you are. I’m t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e at this one. I like to move on to the next thing. I look ahead and forget to enjoy and appreciate where I am today.

Sometimes I need to stop and remember that I’m living today in the answered prayers of yesterday. And that is a reason to say “thank you” a lot more often than I do.

God’s timing is not like ours. Sometimes we face delays and detours we never expected. While those can be discouraging, they can also lead to gifts along the way we never would have discovered otherwise.

When it comes to our God-sized dreams, we may not know when we will arrive—but we can always be sure God will be by our side, giving us what our hearts really need. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.

Go Deeper

Read more about timing and life’s seasons in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

God, your timing is not like mine. Sometimes it’s hard to be patient. I yield to your divine schedule. Show me when to speed up, when to slow down, and when to simply be still. Most of all, I want to share each moment of my life with you. Amen.

What’s one truth you want to remember?

What’s the next small step you’ll take?