WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:03.580 If you know someone with ADD or ADHD, you know 00:00:03.580 --> 00:00:06.559 that it isn't that they don't like plans. They 00:00:06.559 --> 00:00:09.480 actually love them. They usually have about a 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:11.619 dozen of them, maybe more, spinning, evolving, 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.939 and being reimagined at any given moment. I know 00:00:14.939 --> 00:00:17.100 that because I fit that stereotype perfectly. 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:20.899 I love the structure of a new system. I love 00:00:20.899 --> 00:00:22.879 the surge of vision that makes you feel like 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.640 you can conquer the world by lunchtime. And then, 00:00:25.719 --> 00:00:28.100 by about 1 .30, You're standing in the kitchen 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:30.879 trying to remember why you walked in there while 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:33.179 also mentally redesigning your garage and wondering 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:37.079 if you should finally learn Greek. There is a 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.640 lot happening up here. But here's the honest 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:43.799 truth. My perseverance is usually fueled by achievement. 00:00:44.539 --> 00:00:48.320 I like to see the dial move. I love the burst 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:51.380 of dopamine that comes with checking a box and 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:54.079 seeing that what I'm doing is actually working. 00:00:55.340 --> 00:00:58.700 When you see results, staying the course feels 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:01.820 like a win. But when the achievement is absent, 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:04.700 when you're doing the work, praying the prayers, 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:07.799 and making the sacrifices, but the dial doesn't 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.579 move an inch, perseverance gets really heavy. 00:01:11.340 --> 00:01:14.079 It feels less like a journey and more like a 00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:17.280 treadmill. A very spiritual treadmill, sure. 00:01:17.659 --> 00:01:21.400 But you're still staring at the same wall. That's 00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:25.340 where I hit a wall. Natural grit eventually runs 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:28.099 out, and that's where I need the Spirit to step 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:31.200 in. Because left to myself, I will turn a season 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:34.719 of waiting into a season of failure. I assume 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:37.620 that if I can't see movement, I must be doing 00:01:37.620 --> 00:01:40.159 something wrong. And then I try to redesign it 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.019 all like we talked about earlier. But we need 00:01:43.019 --> 00:01:46.200 the Spirit to remind our restless hearts that 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:49.620 God's timing is not a performance review. We're 00:01:49.620 --> 00:01:53.400 failing. I've been sitting in that tension lately. 00:01:53.640 --> 00:01:57.420 I have plans. Good, holy things, I believe, could 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:01.120 honor God and bless our boys. But I'm realizing 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:04.780 that my deadline is often just a demand for clarity, 00:02:04.900 --> 00:02:08.620 and if I'm honest, a demand for control. I'd 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:10.699 gladly accept a color -coded Google Calendar 00:02:10.699 --> 00:02:13.280 invite from the Lord explaining the next 10 years. 00:02:13.460 --> 00:02:16.240 Hey Cody, this is a hard season. It's going to 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:19.719 last 7 months, but don't panic. Also, buy more 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:23.580 coffee. But life with God doesn't come with that 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:26.539 calendar invite. It comes with a calling and 00:02:26.539 --> 00:02:29.500 a deeply uncomfortable invitation to trust him 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:33.759 when the timing makes zero sense to you. Because 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:40.039 the reality is, this due season is not my deadline. 00:02:41.460 --> 00:02:43.819 Welcome to an extra shot of Grace on the Grind. 00:02:43.919 --> 00:02:45.460 This is the part of the podcast where the mic 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:46.840 probably should have been turned off, but we 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:49.500 kept talking anyways. It's the bonus space for 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.469 deeper theology. honest stories, and a level 00:02:52.469 --> 00:02:54.889 of caffeinated commentary, I should probably 00:02:54.889 --> 00:02:57.650 apologize for in advance. So grab your coffee, 00:02:57.710 --> 00:03:02.169 take a breath, and let's get into this. So in 00:03:02.169 --> 00:03:04.250 the main episode, we talked about being stuck 00:03:04.250 --> 00:03:08.669 in the middle. But I want to press into the harder 00:03:08.669 --> 00:03:13.870 part of faith. Surrendering good desires. It's 00:03:13.870 --> 00:03:16.770 one thing to let go of sin. At least we know 00:03:16.770 --> 00:03:20.050 those need to go. It's another thing to surrender 00:03:20.050 --> 00:03:23.530 a desire for a stronger family, a healthier home, 00:03:23.629 --> 00:03:26.930 or a ministry that bears fruit. Because these 00:03:26.930 --> 00:03:31.610 things are good. We assume God is obligated to 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:35.490 bring them about on our schedule. But a good 00:03:35.490 --> 00:03:38.669 desire can become a crushing burden when we demand 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:42.490 that it happens right now. Sometimes we aren't 00:03:42.490 --> 00:03:45.050 asking the Lord, is this yours? We're asking, 00:03:45.229 --> 00:03:47.780 Lord, Will you please hurry up and bless the 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:51.340 things I've already decided you should do? I 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:53.139 say that as somebody sitting right in the middle 00:03:53.139 --> 00:03:57.300 of it. Surrender sounds spiritual until it touches 00:03:57.300 --> 00:04:00.400 something you actually care about. Then it feels 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:04.039 like surgery. Laying down a dream doesn't mean 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:07.639 you stop caring. It means you stop clutching. 00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:11.539 It's saying, Lord, I'll be faithful with what's 00:04:11.539 --> 00:04:13.919 in front of me, but I won't demand the future 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:19.360 match. picture in my head. That's hard. Galatians 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:22.920 6 .9 says, Let us not grow weary of doing good, 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:26.620 for in due season we'll reap, if we do not give 00:04:26.620 --> 00:04:30.079 up. Paul doesn't say you'll reap when it feels 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:33.040 reasonable or when it finally is something people 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.379 notice. He says in due season. Due season means 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:42.740 an appointed time. God's time. Not random or 00:04:42.740 --> 00:04:47.529 forgotten. but also not my deadline. If I'm honest, 00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:51.209 I don't usually want due season. I want soon 00:04:51.209 --> 00:04:55.649 season. I want right now season. I want a clear 00:04:55.649 --> 00:04:58.949 agenda and one achievable milestone at a time. 00:04:59.350 --> 00:05:03.949 But Paul anchors us in endurance. The danger 00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:06.709 in the middle season isn't usually dramatic disobedience. 00:05:06.709 --> 00:05:10.730 It's quiet resignation. It's the slow shift where 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:13.560 we stop expecting God to move and just start 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:17.899 enduring him. Endurance isn't glamorous. No one 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:20.560 puts it on a coffee mug because it sounds exhausting. 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:25.000 But God forms us not by giving constant feedback, 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.800 but by teaching us to trust him when the feedback 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:33.079 is absent. Our culture struggles with this because 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:37.459 we want immediate outcomes. Plant Monday, harvest 00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:40.759 Friday, post the testimony Sunday, but scripture 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.980 gives us a Different category. Faithful people 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:48.000 who never see the full result of their faithfulness. 00:05:48.660 --> 00:05:52.920 Hebrews 11 talks about people who died in faith. 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:57.079 Not having received the things promised, but 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:00.639 having seen them from afar. They died in faith, 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:04.379 not failure. Their faithfulness wasn't measured 00:06:04.379 --> 00:06:08.079 by whether they held the finished product. Sometimes 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:12.129 God doesn't give us the view. He gives us the 00:06:12.129 --> 00:06:16.670 field. If the harvest belongs to God, I don't 00:06:16.670 --> 00:06:19.670 have to manipulate it or panic when it's slow. 00:06:20.350 --> 00:06:23.870 Some things we're building right now may bloom 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:27.089 in our children or grandchildren's lifetime. 00:06:28.009 --> 00:06:31.889 If our goal is to finish everything ourselves, 00:06:32.430 --> 00:06:37.569 that's disappointing. But if our goal is to steward 00:06:37.569 --> 00:06:41.899 our part faithfully, it's beautiful. Maybe the 00:06:41.899 --> 00:06:44.759 point was never to own the harvest, but to be 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:50.699 faithful with the seed. I planted, Apollos watered, 00:06:50.699 --> 00:06:55.420 but God gave the growth. 1 Corinthians 3 .6 That 00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:58.899 verse is freeing because growth doesn't depend 00:06:58.899 --> 00:07:02.459 on me. But man, it's frustrating because it doesn't 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:06.939 obey my schedule either. I can take a good calling 00:07:06.939 --> 00:07:09.800 and start treating it like it depends entirely 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:16.600 on me. In parenting, marriage, or work. I start 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:20.319 out faithful. Then I get nervous. And then I 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.379 start gripping. Suddenly obedience becomes control 00:07:23.379 --> 00:07:27.240 wearing church clothes. Control says, if you 00:07:27.240 --> 00:07:30.860 really cared, you'd carry this harder. You'd 00:07:30.860 --> 00:07:34.920 pick up more. But Psalm 127 says, unless the 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:37.800 Lord builds the house, those who build it labor 00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:41.439 in vain. It doesn't say, don't build. It says 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.660 don't build like you are God. You are trusting 00:07:46.660 --> 00:07:49.519 your own efforts more than you are trusting God's 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:53.379 providence. The absence of visible progress doesn't 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:58.199 mean God is absent. You may be gathering stone, 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:03.740 but God builds the house. This is where David's 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:06.819 story hits home. David wanted to build the temple. 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:10.839 It wasn't an ego trip. It was a holy desire. 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:15.120 But God told him he wouldn't be the one to build. 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:21.139 Solomon would. God didn't tell David the desire 00:08:21.139 --> 00:08:27.399 was bad. He just said, not your hands. What do 00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:31.779 we do when God says no to a good goal? If you're 00:08:31.779 --> 00:08:35.419 like me, you assume a burden on the heart equals 00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:38.809 immediate completion. But sometimes the next 00:08:38.809 --> 00:08:42.190 step is just preparation. David didn't pout. 00:08:42.330 --> 00:08:45.350 He gathered materials, prepared his son, and 00:08:45.350 --> 00:08:48.110 organized the work. That is surrender with a 00:08:48.110 --> 00:08:51.169 shovel in your hand. Faithfulness isn't always 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:55.049 measured by what we finish, but by what we prepare 00:08:55.049 --> 00:08:58.769 for the next person to carry. The kingdom is 00:08:58.769 --> 00:09:03.190 built by preparers, people who pray prayers that 00:09:03.190 --> 00:09:06.590 outlive them. That was David at the end of his 00:09:06.590 --> 00:09:11.970 life. In some seasons, that's us. I'm learning 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:15.090 slowly, and usually with the maturity of a toddler 00:09:15.090 --> 00:09:18.210 who missed his nap, that my job isn't to force 00:09:18.210 --> 00:09:21.289 the product, but to be faithful with the preparation. 00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:25.389 I would prefer a progress bar. I mean, I love 00:09:25.389 --> 00:09:29.289 progress bars. Even when it tells me three minutes 00:09:29.289 --> 00:09:34.049 remaining for 47 minutes? At least it's pretending 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:36.950 to give me info. But God gives us daily bread. 00:09:37.399 --> 00:09:41.639 Enough strength for today's step. Sometimes that's 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:45.580 hard for me. But it leads to the question, can 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:49.740 I prepare without possessing? Can I bless a future 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:52.940 I won't personally enter? That's generational 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:57.919 faithfulness. Moses led to the edge. David gathered 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:02.179 the stone. So the prayer is, Lord, make me faithful 00:10:02.179 --> 00:10:05.879 in the part of the story I actually hold. Not 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:08.909 the part I wish I held. but the seed, the bedtime 00:10:08.909 --> 00:10:13.070 story, the unseen sacrifice. Obedience lived 00:10:13.070 --> 00:10:17.710 quietly reshapes the heart. So here's your challenge. 00:10:18.730 --> 00:10:22.669 Do not just name what you're waiting for. Name 00:10:22.669 --> 00:10:26.029 what you're preparing. When we only focus on 00:10:26.029 --> 00:10:29.429 the wait, we get resentful. When we focus on 00:10:29.429 --> 00:10:32.629 the preparation, we become faithful. Ask yourself, 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:36.029 am I responding to what God has actually asked 00:10:36.029 --> 00:10:40.259 of me? Or am I reacting to expectations, comparison, 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:44.879 or fear? You can't control the legacy 50 years 00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:48.460 from now. But you can tend the seed with integrity 00:10:48.460 --> 00:10:52.919 today. Pray this, Lord, if this harvest belongs 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.559 to another season, make me faithful in this one. 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:02.120 If I do not get to build the temple, teach me 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.759 how to gather the stone. That prayer loosens 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:10.860 our grip. without emptying our hands. Due season 00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:15.559 is not my deadline. That means some good things 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:21.019 won't happen as fast as we hoped. But some faithful 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:25.059 lives are called to gather the stone and strengthen 00:11:25.059 --> 00:11:28.259 the generation. That isn't a lesser calling. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:32.000 It's a holy one, no matter what my ADD brain 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.539 thinks about it. Don't despise the preparation. 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:39.480 Don't assume God is absent because the timeline 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:43.480 is long. Keep building what's in your hands. 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:47.220 You don't have to carry the weight of what's 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:50.980 next. You just have to be faithful with what's 00:11:50.980 --> 00:11:54.860 now. Thanks for joining me for this extra shot. 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.960 If this hits home, send it to someone who's tired 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:01.120 of planting. Until next time, keep your coffee 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.480 strong and your heart steady in the season God 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:05.980 has actually given you.