Proverbs31 OBS Wait and See Week 5: My 7 Tips for Waiting

As someone who is still waiting I will give you my 7 Tips for Waiting.

Before you read ONE tip, here is the Lens that you must see your Wait through.  

Friends, Things Don't Always turn out exactly as we planned.  They never go as we planned and as soon as you let your rigid ideas go, then you'll be all right.

Tip #1 Focus on The Now

All you have is now so you must focus on the assignment you're in right now.  So many of us want the big arenas and stages before we've even done the smaller shows.  You need to focus on what you're doing NOW and do that well before going on to the next level.

All you have is now and you can't look to the future for salvation.  When people say:  "I will be happy once x,y,z happens" they are lying and fooling themselves.   They will be happy for a moment and once the Euphoria wears off, they will be back to life and back to reality.

Tip #2 Personal Development x 5

If you're waiting, then clearly you are not ready for whatever you're waiting for so use that time for personal development.  Beloved, use that time to WORK ON YOURSELF.  Use that time to develop your maturity and into the person who can appreciate what God has for you.  Use that time to grow and mature so that you can hold on to whatever it is you're waiting for.

Being undeveloped will leave you with a Grand Opening and Grand Closing Scenario.  You will lose it as quickly as you got it.

Tip #3 Don't Listen to Everyone

If you're going to seek counsel, then seek counsel from wise people who have receipts of success and a testimony.  

Single people:  Please stop listening to your friends and family members who have a history of nasty divorces or are stuck in dead and terrible relationships.  These people are full of advice of what you should do.  

If they know so much, then why aren't applying that knowledge to their own miserable situations?  If anything I always do the opposite what they say because they are great for knowing what NOT to do.

Don't listen to everyone.  Listen to people with wise counsel.

Better Yet, listen to God first and if what these people are saying doesn't match up...smile politely, nod, and ignore what they say.

Tip #4 Anything worth having will take longer than you think

If you want a Grand Opening and Grand Closing business or relationship, then rush through the process.  Anything that is worth having will take time to get it right.

People always like to point out the overnight successes:  If you talk to most of these "overnight successes" they've been at it for YEARS.  It was the persistence, hard work, and tenaciousness that allowed them to breakthrough "overnight".  

It's the principle that Christian Author Bob Sorge points out in Luke 18 with the Parable of the Persistent Widow.  In verse 8 The Bible says  I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! 

God will grant justice quickly and Bob Sorge says that doesn't mean it will happen right away.  He says it means that when God decides to give justice it will happen quickly.

You may be waiting YEARS for a breakthrough but when God decides to give you the breakthrough, he will break all the way through and quickly.

Tip #5 Forget the HOW and Focus on the WHO

This is where most of us fail big time.  We get stuck on HOW God is going to get it done.  How will it happen?  We think we have the answers and we couldn't be further from the truth.  Stop focusing on the HOW and focus on the WHO.

Every time I think I have figured out, it's a dead end.  That's not the way at all.

My advice:  Forget the How.  Don't try and manipulate circumstances or help God along.  You can't and it will only end up in a mess.

Tip #6 Divorce yourself from all expected outcomes

In Sales, they often tell you to divorce yourself from the prospect in front of you.  They don't mean that you should become detached and disconnected from the prospect in front of you.  They mean you need to divorce yourself from the outcome of whether or not they say Yes or No.

This is the best advice for sales IMO.  Sales people will not take it so personally when folks say No.  It could just mean "Not right Now" and you never know why people say no.  As long as you're presenting the value and listening to their needs, you cannot control whether people say Yes or No.

Similarly with God you've got to divorce yourself from all expected outcomes.

It will not turn out as you planned but it will turn out as he has planned because he's focused on the bigger picture.

When we are married to specific outcomes and they don't happen we can become bitter and angry.

I know of someone who thought they should marry a particular person.  This person was very angry when they ended up not marrying that particular person but figured it must have been for the best. Years later she found out that there was a very very good reason that she did NOT marry that person.

The lesson in that was that we should not be married to specific outcomes because we do not know what's on other side of the curtain.  God may be sparing us from tremendous heartbreak and disaster.  

Tip #7 Remember the Bigger Picture and it's not all about you

Your wait is not just about you.

It's about all of the lives that you will affect with your wait.   

It's not just about you.  I think this is a critical tip for those of us who are waiting.  Your wait isn't just about You.  Wendy Pope's waiting to write a book wasn't just about her seeing her name in print.  It's about affecting all of the Women who would do Bible Studies with her work.

It's not just about you.  It's about the Glory of God.

The Bible says: "Whatever You Do...Do it for the Glory of God" 

So if you keep in mind that it's not just about you and that it's about glorifying God, then it will keep you from becoming too inwardly focused and just focused on self.