waiting time is never wasted time

Man.
Discerning the difference between good and God.
There's so many good opportunities, but that doesn't mean they are what God wants me to do.

I've seen a lot of people take on everything that is good because they think that's what God wants from them.
I've seen people try to find their identities in doing all the good things.
I've seen people take on all the good things so much that they neglect the better things.

Like health, friends, family and God.

God knows how human we are.
He created us.
He knows we can't take on every responsibility that gets thrown at us.

I've taken on so many good things that I ignored the God things before.
God was calling me to other things, but I ignored those things because I had already gave my word to all the good things.

Art is a perfect example.
Not an extremely big or important one but I have been putting so much in front of spending time doing art.
God speaks to me so clearly through art, but I'm doing a lot of good things right now so art just kinda fell down on the priority list.
Not ok.
Because in my life that is a God thing, and He will bring good out of it even when I don't understand why it's so important.

Isaiah 64:4 says "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind."
It's all about where the heart is.
I can go doing all the good things that I can find, but if my heart doesn't desire to do the GOD things then my heart is in a bad place.

Romans 12:2 says "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."
The world throws all the good stuff at me and says "if you don't volunteer for your church's nursery, or sponsor a child in poverty, or put some of your time into a ministry then where is your fruit..."
(all those things are God things, but not for everyone.)
But God gives me my marching orders and they can be as simple as "put on some worship music and worship Me with all you heart because I want to hear you sing."
Or as intimidating as asking a stranger if I can pray with them.
Or as big as taking in a child.

I crave to serve but I realize my idea of serving can look different than what He's calling me to do.
So I when I don't hear an answer, I wait.
Because waiting for guidance is so much better than going into something blind because it looks good to me.

God has called Travis and I into a lot of things that people don't understand why we're doing it they way we are.
But we are doing it that way because that is how He told us to do it.

But sometimes we think it's God and go into it and our discernment turns out to be a little off.
That's when we remember how important it is to wait.

I have spent a majority of my walk jumping into good opportunities and wondering why it's so unfulfilling.
It's been because I didn't wait on God to tell me if that's where He wanted me and usually it wasn't.

Finally, in due time, I learned that waiting time is never wasted time.
I would rather wait for guidance than step out of Daddy's perfect will.
And when I do, His will usually ends up looking a lot different than what I had planned in my head and 100% more fulfilling than I had expected.