Maybe you’re excited for everything this year has in store, but aren’t sure what God is leading you toward in your current season of life. At the start of a new year, it can be tempting to shop for new resolutions like we did for gifts during the previous month. Don’t mishear me—God does give us the power to change our lives for the better. However, He often leads us in specific and intentional ways. God has several lessons and blessings He wants to bring to you in this season of life. (You probably have an inkling about what some of them are.) We can discover even more when we align ourselves with God’s timing and grace.
God’s Timing in Your Season of Life
You may have heard it said that the right thing in the wrong timing is the wrong thing. God has orchestrated the universe, and He has intentional timing for the events in your life, too. We must continually submit our desires to God’s plan because we continually have desires that go outside the boundaries of God’s will for us in any given season.
At the start of a new year, it is common to ponder goals and dreams. We have relational dreams like getting married or having kids/grandkids. We have career goals like landing a certain job or starting a business. There may even be locational goals, such as traveling to a certain place or living in a new city. These very well may be goals and dreams that God has put into your heart to foreshadow a future blessing in your life. However, we must prize God’s timing over our own, even when it costs us. We lay down the pen because we trust God to write a better story.
Honestly, it is the grace of God that we don’t have to plan out every single detail of our lives at once. Psalm 16:5-6 says this:
“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”
There is a unique boundary that God has put around each one of our lives that we are supposed to fulfill. That boundary comes with the Kingdom of God as an inheritance! That is good news, and we will gain peace and clarity when we learn to be thankful for the lot God has given us.
How to Operate in God’s Grace
Understanding what God has given you grace for in your current season can be extremely helpful when it comes to operating in God’s timing. Grace is God’s power working in your life. It is the strength He supplies in your weakness, and it’s how He equips you to do things you never thought you could.
Another way I like to think about grace is peace and presence. You know you’re operating in God’s grace when His peace and presence permeate your environment and actions. Even if you’re in the right relationships, job, and location, it is possible to push the boundaries of your season. We have to constantly realign ourselves with God’s grace.
In 2 Corinthians 10:13, the Apostle Paul writes “We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us.” You can usually tell when you have exceeded the limits of your appointed sphere. When you do, you go from feeling peace to stress and striving. What used to feel like creativity can turn into pressure. It can feel like you are a planet outside of orbit. Without grace, it is easy to feel failure, vulnerability, and purposelessness. Luckily, God always gives us the choice to get right back into the grace!
Kids are notorious for pushing boundaries. They want to test the full measure of their freedom. Grown-ups are really no different and testing the limits can lead to punishment for us, too. However, scripture tells us that the punishment of the Lord is a good thing. Hebrews 12:5-6 says, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”
We love the punishment of the Lord because it pulls us back into the forcefield of His grace. People often try early on to jump right into their full boundary or destiny, which is like giving a 10-year-old the keys to the family car. They couldn’t handle it if they got there, which is why each of us needs to grow and mature in each season.
Grace doesn’t mean that life will be easy. It means that God will be with you, empowering you every step of the way. It has often been said that if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. In my experience, that’s not true at all. On the contrary, you’ll work even harder toward something you love. The difference is that the work is fulfilling and intentional because you’re operating in the grace space that God intended for you.
Resistance in Your Season of Life
As you steward your season of life, you’ll push up against boundaries in healthy ways, too. In other words, you’ll face resistance. This is when it’s especially important to run your race with endurance. Like a plant breaking through the soil, growth is dependent on breaking through the resistance.
As you are faithful with little, God will entrust you with more (Luke 16:10) because your character will be able to carry it. He extends your boundary lines to encompass more responsibility and more influence. Your current season is a greenhouse for growth that God wants to transfer into a bigger plot of land in the future. That land will be able to supply and serve more people.
[Related: How to Create a Growth Environment]
What Phase Are You In?
Many years ago, I heard a minister say that everyone goes through three primary phases of life:
1. Discovery Phase: You actively learn who you are and where you fit. In this phase, you are primarily concerned with acquiring knowledge.
2. Productive Phase: You become incredibly productive living out of who you are. Through experience, you turn your knowledge into understanding. It’s a stage of a lot of accomplishment.
3. Wisdom Phase: You desire to give back and pour into other people. You have learned through experience and want to share what you know.
These phases aren’t necessarily linear. You could be experiencing them in different areas of your life at the same time. For example, you might be a newlywed who is in the discovery phase when it comes to marriage. However, when it comes to the career side of your life, you could be an entrepreneur who is in the middle of their productive phase. It is beneficial to mentally organize the areas of your life with these respective phases because it helps you know where to give yourself more grace and where to challenge yourself more.
The 2022 WealthBuilders Conference is going to be a space full of people who are seeking God for direction in their current season of life. If that sounds like you, I encourage you to attend. We teach you how to develop the practical skills and character to carry all that God has for you. Click here to learn more.
