You Cannot Process Past Where You Are
To process something is to submit to a natural phenomenon marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result. Processing things that have happened to me means I put action on hold for the purpose of waiting on God for His perspectives. Processing and the need for it makes sense to me but waiting on God for often imperceptible degrees of change in thinking is a challenge.
Have you noticed that God does not work according to our time frames? Waiting requires patience. Waiting rooms, waiting lists, waiting games. Waiting is a part of life. Waiting feels like treading water, marching in place, feeling chained to wearisome or monotonous routines that eventually reveal cracks in our core character.
"One method of waiting means patience, hope, contentment, assurance that God will redeem His promises and make the heart strong; the other method of waiting is fretfulness, impatience, distrust, and complaining - and that kind of waiting wears out the soul." - Joseph Parker
They key to allowing a healthy process to unfold in my life is waiting while remaining expectant about the process itself, remaining hopeful of a favorable change or outcome, remaining in readiness to move out when the next step in the process appears. This kind of waiting does not wear out my soul but profits my soul.
Oh, guard my soul and deliver me!
Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.
Psalm 25:20-21
O Lord, help me to wait expectantly and to submit to the process you have ordained for me to follow in understanding the events of my life. Encourage me with the knowledge that as long as I remain faithfully focused on You, you will make the necessary changes in my processing to allow me to reach the full potential of profit for my soul. You alone supply the insight I need, Lord. I will wait on You. Amen.
