Process.
It’s not typically a fun word. For those of us that love to know the steps ahead and have the outcomes all mapped out, it is a word that provokes scowls and cringing. We know it means that what we are facing will take time and hard work, and that has a way of pulling on the heart strings. So much of life does indeed involve process though.
I remember one time that I felt especially heartbroken. With everything in me, I wanted a relationship to look differently then it did. Multiple times a day, I would pray over it. I fretted over it, my gut ached over it…I felt consumed by it, but I had no control over it. The outcome wasn’t in my hands.
One day when I approached the Lord about it in prayer, I felt Him say to my spirit, “I already know.” It was gentle and loving, but I knew He was well aware of what I wanted. He told me to quit carrying the burden of it. Nudging me gently, He asked me to leave my concerns about this relationship in His lap and move forward with the other things He had for me.
What I was asking for again and again (and then some more), was something that had to be a process. I wanted to rush it, but it couldn’t be rushed. It just wouldn’t turn out right if I rushed it. Trusting the Lord and letting go of wanting to control the outcome was the best thing I could do. I needed to trust the process.
1 Peter 5:7 says, “Pour out all of your stress and worries upon him, and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you.”
So, when I pick up those burdens again (and I have from time to time), I revisit what the Lord said about it, and then placing it back on his lap, I leave them there. I hurry up…and wait. I don’t lay down and do nothing until this one thing happens. I carry on. I’m diligent with the other things that I know God has put in front of me right now.
Sometimes distraction is our worst enemy.
Getting caught up in the one thing we want to see happen, that has yet to happen, can cause us to overlook the steps we need to be taking for this very moment.
I decided to make the choice to trust that God has my best at heart. He has the best timing and the right people for me. The process is in His hands, and I can trust it.