There is Still Time

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”— Philippians 1:6, NKJV

Have you ever felt like a new year has come, but your plans and dreams have been stuck in the past years? One, two, maybe even ten years later, there has been no manifestation of what you thought would surely have come to pass by now.

It can be easy to feel discouraged and lose hope when such happens. It’s not abnormal to question whether you’ve heard God correctly . . . or at all! Doubt begins speaking loudly, overshadowing everything. Suddenly, the confidence we had about our assignment fades. Discouragement worsens when seeing someone else who is “successful” in doing what you desire. You might wonder if it’s too late for you.

Earlier this month, I saw a post that read: “Don’t believe the lie that time is scarce. The Creator of time will give you enough for what He’s stirred in you to pursue.”

I meditated on that post for a while. During the years that I was in school to complete my dissertation, I did not do much creative writing. I managed to get a short story or two completed. Still, those novel ideas I sketched out before beginning my doctoral program in 2018 remained unfinished in 2022 when I graduated. I’d been so focused on scholarly writing the last few years that I wondered if I should pivot and only concentrate on scholarly writing because it might be too late to get back in the creative groove and pursue those other ideas.

After seeing the above-mentioned post, I thought about Philippians 1:6 and smiled.

God doesn’t leave His work unfinished.

It doesn’t matter how much time has passed or if you’re on the back end of your “prime,” according to worldly standards. If you still have breath in your lungs, there is still time to finish whatever you have left to do. So, if you’ve given up or stopped trying, get back to it. This may indeed be a new year. It’s also a new opportunity for you to make progress. Our time schedule and God’s are not on the same level. His is always perfect!

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“God’s Timing”

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.”—Ecclesiastes 3:1 

Nike popularized the phrase “Just Do It” when the company adopted it as a motto. Many of us have said those three words a time or twenty when speaking with someone who seemed to procrastinate moving forward on something. When we use the phrase, we’re really saying, “stop making excuses and get busy!”

Procrastination is not a word that people would use to describe me. It’s not even how I would describe myself. Yet, my most recent book project only came about because my hand was “forced.”

For at least a decade, I’d been thinking about putting together a one-year weekly devotional, but I put it off, thinking that I had too many other things on my plate. I wanted this to be a collaborative project, and I wondered how I would gather everyone together for the work. Eventually, I talked myself out of it. Years would pass before I gave it any more serious thought, even though the idea never left my mind.

In 2020, the devotional idea again gained momentum when I aimed to help an organization publish a devotional with its members. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out for several reasons, but the ball was already rolling, so I began creating the devotional as a Yo Productions project. The end result was a final compilation of works that outweighs my best imaginations.

I now wonder if the delays over the years and with the other organization were simply part of the process that propelled me to complete the project at this appointed time. Proverbs 16:9 reminds us that “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps” (NIV). When I finally began executing the plan for the devotional, things were delayed a year because of situations outside of my control. What I thought was a delay turned out to be “perfect timing!”

I’m sure that many others have such testimonies of things not happening when you wanted them to but happening at the time they were supposed to. Of course, real procrastinators will use God’s timing as an excuse to not do any prep work at all. As I look back on the years that I “put off” this project, I now see how God was preparing me. I wasn’t aware of such at that time, but now it’s plain as day through the connections I’ve made, things I’ve learned, and resources I’ve acquired to put the plan into action. While we can and should plan, we must also submit our plans to His will and give Him ultimate authority to do as He pleases when He pleases. His timing is always best!

Check out Connecting with Christ: 52 Weekly Devotionals to Nurture Spiritual Growth