Do you ever feel that you’re in the wrong place? Or maybe you think your timing is off, that you’ve somehow ‘missed it’ or that it’s for so far in the future that it isn’t ‘currently’ viable? My first words of advice are: Don’t Assume! Too often when things are not going as we have planned or thought they should, we think we have misread the information. Perhaps… but not necessarily.
Timing is a tricky thing at best. You don’t want to be early but you certainly don’t want to be late. I’ve discovered that if we have misread the time, God always finds a way to make it work (all things work to the good, Romans 8:28)) but He looks at our hearts first. What is our motivation? Are we ‘ready’? Have we done the prep work (2Timothy 3:17)? He is not about to place us in a position where we will fail or, worse, hurt those we are trying to help. If we aren’t ready, regardless the reason, the work will get done… just not by us.
One thing we do have to recognize is that we will never be totally prepared. However, that reality doesn’t absolve us from the responsibility to prepare (2Timothy 2:15). Preparation can be very tedious, but it really depends on our attitude. When we accept the fact that we need to be able to be prepared for any eventuality then we get closer to the place we need to be – being instant in season and out (2Timothy 4:2).
I really believe that if we’re not in the right place or if our timing is off, that a new opportunity will present itself. The critical point is not to focus on ourself, not to focus on a ‘missed’ opportunity but to be watchful and to continue to prepare. God uses people who are available to Him – it just might not be in the way we thought… This is a time not to focus on how or when we will be used of God but to focus on preparing so He can use us.
