Rain delays, flight delays, shipping delays, travel delays, order delays, and project delays are all really annoying. We have all experienced one or several of these trying situations and had our patience tested!
The frustration mounts when we were given an expected day, duration, or deadline of something only to be met with an unexpected change to that original timeline. Our plans get thwarted, our schedule gets destroyed, and our calendars gets interrupted, so we get bent out of shape.
I know the pain of delay very well. It comes with things as small as my wife not making it home when she said she was to much bigger moments like the gym not having the kind of numbers of members by now that we need and want.
Delay is such a powerful destroyer because of how sneaky it is. We don’t know when, or how, or what, but it’s almost as if we’re never quite ready for it when it happens and we can’t take it.
Here are 3 ways we can reframe our thoughts on delay that will arrest this arrow from the enemy.
1. Plan and look ahead but keep a contingency in mind. We do better if we know and expect delays will happen and it’s not the end of the world. We can forge ahead with resiliency knowing that they will NOT be the end of us. In Galatians 6:7-9, we are reminded that we reap what we sow but Paul encourages us to NOT “grow weary in doing good,” for in due time we will receive a bountiful harvest.
Know your world timeline is MORE about your ability to live IN it that it is to live BY it according to its deadlines and days. Delay distracts by pulling us down into only seeing the darkness in front of us instead of walking through knowing that harvest require both days AND nights.
2. Think about a different endgame. In a similar connotation as the first perspective shift, this refocuses on something different, something beyond the moment. If we can understand that our trial is not our world, that the delay is not the most important detail of life, we can maintain a sense of hope beyond its fulfillment bringing us a win while waiting.
In Romans 5, we read that trials produce perseverance which produces character and in turn generates hope. And HOPE does not disappoint, because of what is being poured into our hearts, LOVE!
So, simply let hope from the love of God within create an unshakable resolve to wait in delays.
3. Trust the process. All three of these pieces require an elevated thought life. This one, however, brings the focus to a singular and specific point, a person, Jesus. 2 Peter 3:8-9 teaches us that God’s timeline is different than our earthly clock. God transcends YET involves time as we know it. We go on to read, however, that “the LORD is NOT SLOOOOW in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you so that no one should be destroyed.”
Your delay may be nothing more than unfortunate circumstances. It could be an intentional test of your patience and opportunity to develop character as you let hope grow within. Or it may be that your heart has been orbiting within the 24/7 clock and God has brought you a serving of eternity as He has “set eternity in the hearts of man” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Trust in him as he is patient with you while you struggle to find IN Him what you’re look for in everything else.
So, next time you find yourself facing a delay, remember to flip your perspective to the other side. You’ll extinguish that arrow with force!
#DelayedButNotDestroyed
#StairwayToHeaven
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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