Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven .. He has made everything beautiful in its time."

If college (perhaps even life before this) has made me realize anything about myself, is that I have a type A personality. I wouldn’t say my whole persona is like that of type A, but a good portion of it.

First off, I’d like to say I’m very organized. I can’t make it through a day of class without my planner. I like to know exactly what I have going on, planned out, organized accordingly, color coded and the whole 9. Take finals week for example. I wrote out in my planner what time ill get up, which hours I’ll be studying which topic, and even when I can have a study break. I like to be in control of my circumstances, and aware of whats going on around me.

God has three answers to every prayer; Yes, No, and Later. I want to explore the No and Later answers with you. Like I said earlier, I am an avid planner. To every little detail, I like to plan. So when I encounter things in my life that don’t go the way I anticipate or plan, they really give me a run for my money.

The past few weeks, I have really enjoyed listening to Steven Furtick on YouTube. I highly recommend him if you have never listened to him before. He’s one of those guys that says the deepest intellectual thoughts and applications of the Bible that really make you sit back and just think WOW, he is so right.

I wanna share with you two quotes of his that he said in his video “Don’t waste your angel”. Steven says, “Sometimes God uses the no’s to lead you to a greater yes”. Sometimes God will give you that no answer because He has something far greater for you. Understand that the premise of patience within His No and Later answers, is faith. Without faith, we have no hope. Faith is what ties our soul to His, and allows us to trust Him and His promises. We must have faith that although we aren’t getting the answer we want now, it is either coming later or specifically if that isn’t, something better is.

Steven’s second quote is this; “Later you will see if I had gotten what I wanted when I wanted it, it wouldn’t have been a blessing because I wasn’t ready.”. Take a second to reread that. If you had gotten what you wanted when you wanted it, it wouldn’t have been a blessing because you weren’t ready. When God tells us "later," it is for our best interest. When God is holding us from something, it is so we will be ready to appreciate the blessing he is giving us.

Have faith in Him. Have trust and patience in His answers. Focus on yourself, and analyze yourself. Am I in a position to appreciate this blessing? If the answer is no, build and strengthen and prepare yourself for it. Within myself, I have recognized God is trying to teach me that I am not in control. I cannot plan out these things that I am not in control of. He is. God is. God’s timing will prevail, every time. I recognize I am not ready and am not capable of a blessing of that type of magnitude yet.

That is, if that blessing is meant for me.

If not, and it won't always be, pray for the understanding and patience to prepare yourself for the even better yes that is waiting. And again remember, he who seeks the Lord lacks no good thing (Psalms 34:10). Trust His timing, for He is faithful!