Waiting on God's timing

I'm going to be honest here, waiting is not exactly my strong suit. I have been forced to wait for so many things in life and I know now why waiting is so important. God will not give you something before it's time. I've tried so hard to force things in life... force timing and force relationships rather than waiting on the Lord. I've learned the hard way that His timing is perfect timing. The Lord knows what we need when we need it as well as WHO we need in our lives.

For the longest time I wanted things done MY way and always did everything I could to achieve that. To some extent that's good, but I never knew how to surrender to the Lord's plan and let Him work in my life on my behalf. I was in relationships I wasn't supposed to be in and only delaying His perfect plan for me because of stubbornness and impatience. If I would have done things my own selfish way, I would have ended up with the wrong person, living a miserable life only liking the idea of the way I had planned my life out. I was living in sin and compromising things I knew to be wrong all because I didn't want to wait on Him, I wanted it NOW. Nothing was right, nothing was working out, nothing was beautiful. It was NOT yet time. Once I finally surrendered to God's plan for my life was when it all started to fall into place. He didn't leave me lonely like I feared He would if I didn't have control. I found where I was supposed to be, what I was passionate about, and the most loving, kindhearted, and perfect man for me.

As I move into new stages and seasons of life, I STILL have to learn to wait everyday. My most recent example was waiting on a job. I feared I wouldn't find one, but I had to surrender that to Him and it fell into place at the perfect time.
Now I don't mind it (as much) because I've learned how to surrender my plan to His plan. Even though it's not fun, and it's not NOW nor what I had in mind, it's necessary because it's THE BEST. He knows best and the hardest part is surrendering and being in the waiting.

These are a few of my favorite verses for those times when I find I start to get ahead of God's plan and timing...

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11

I love this one so much because it shows the beauty of waiting. Everything is made BEAUTIFUL in its time and I know that I want the most beautiful, perfect plan that God has set before me. I know to get that, I MUST surrender and wait on HIS perfect timing.