Tick Tock

    There are so many afternoons or nights I get home from work and am just starving.  I have laid out things for a great dinner, but I am so hungry I just start eating junk and fill up on it.  After I eat the junk I feel miserable.  I wish I had just waited the extra 30 minutes for me to prepare my dinner.  It would have tasted better, more fulfilling and healthier.  This concept of waiting is hard for me in "life" and a struggle I face.
    I have stated some before that I have a lot of things I am waiting on right and that I struggle with it.  I like things to happen now and as fate would have it, the series they are preaching on at church is about waiting.  I need to be reminded of the reasons I need to wait, to be reminded that God's plan is worth the "wait".  Here is some of the highlights of the past two sermons.
    The biggest reasons God is making us wait is to prepare us and protect us.  We desperately need these two things and when we don't wait we will miss out on the long term plans that God has for us.
     He protects us from many things, including my impulsiveness.  Just like with the dinner, I was impulsive and ate junk instead of waiting for a better dinner.  He wants us to think and rethink a situation and ask for wisdom and seek Him for guidance. He also could be protecting us from certain relationships.  I see this now in my life.  He wants me to wait because he is still developing character in all involved so that we can all be what God wants us to be, so that we can come into the relationship the way God planned it.  If I try to rush it, then it will go sour and downhill, because our character is not developed enough to handle life together yet.  If you don't wait then a situation could abuse, cause pain and hurt you. So even though God is asking me to wait, I do see the changes happening in me and I see my character developing.  I also see a clearer path now as to what I am looking for and what I need to stay away from.
   God is working on more than our character but also our heart and integrity.  He needs to prepare us for what is ahead, because he knows at this point we can not handle it.  We need to experience some of life first and let him continue to work on the situation(s) and allow him to perfect it, while we wait.  He also could be preparing someone else for your journey and God is also preparing them for you (this is what I feel God has told me), it does make the waiting harder.
     So as hard as the wait is, I am learning not to rush and not to push ahead and pray and ask for guidance on what is coming next.  He is still working behind the scenes and creating something far more purposeful than we can image.  This is somewhat exciting.  I am thankful he is working on me and preparing me.  He is changing my character so I do not continue to act irrational where a situation could not be the best for me!