My best friend’s brother and sister-in-law just had their first baby a few weeks ago. She was born premature, so the day she came everyone was a little nervous. By all accounts, she was not ready to enter the world.

But she did.

They were concerned about her lungs, that they would not have developed enough to help her breathe on her own. Hours after she was born, the tests on her lungs and breathing ability came back clear.

I sat in prayer that day, asking the Lord to continue to protect her, and I had this epiphany. Just like this sweet baby, we often feel like we are not ready. Our “readys” are different – it might be for a career, for a relationship, for a big step in life. It might be quitting something, starting something, giving up something, asking for something. Whatever it is, we hardly ever feel ready. If you are anything like me, we rarely feel ready for life, right?

But God decides when we are ready – and He knows better than we do that we are. Doctors and parents and everyone else said that this baby needed more time to grow and develop. God said, It is time. And here she is, bringing health and JOY into the world!

What do you not feel ready for? What does God say about that timing?

God told me in that moment that I might not feel ready for my ministry or calling, but I will never feel ready. I would always like more development, more learning and growing and “time inside the womb.” But He is in charge of our thriving. If we wait until we feel ready, we will never fly – and we are made to fly. He told me: it is time to fly.

We often are frustrated with God’s timing when we feel like He is making us wait. We quote verses like Ecclesiastes 3:11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time…” We read and write out on sticky notes verses about how good it is to wait for the Lord. We focus a lot on the ways in which we wish He would move faster.

I wonder how often we get in the way of His timing when we don’t feel ready for what He is inviting us into. How often do we say, “Not yet!!” to His invitations?

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Often in my conversations with college students they talk about not yet knowing what they are supposed to do with their lives. We are all in a hurry to figure it out – but are we stepping into the things that God has asked of us right now? Are we so busy trying to figure out the big picture – the grand finale – of our lives, and missing the daily faithfulness He is asking of us today? Are we saying not yet to all kinds of invitations because we don’t feel ready?

Psalm 119:105 tells us that His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. I still remember someone explaining at some random youth conference or something about how a lamp only lights the steps right before us. It doesn’t illuminate the whole path, showing us all the steps to our destination. We know what is right before us, and we can trust that if that is all God shows us, that is all we need to know.

We probably glorify the “wait on the Lord” aspect of life, longing and groaning for our life’s purpose. But in what ways might we be missing the things He says we are ready for, right now?

You are made to fly. You are invited to thrive. You have a purpose and calling and daily-faithfulness that are set before you. God will illuminate each in its time. Don’t miss the little invitations while you are out searching for the big ones. Believe that you are ready for whatever He calls you to do today, because He determines when we are ready. He knows when we are ready to be born, and that might just be today.