Day 27– Can I Still Make Plans While I’m Waiting on God? is about learning how to keep living while you wait for an answer to prayer. Using Proverbs 16:9, the episode reminds us that making plans does not mean we are giving up on what we are praying for. Instead, we can move forward with what we know today while trusting God to direct and redirect our steps. The episode encourages listeners not to become so focused on what they cannot do yet that they miss what God may be inviting them to do right now. Even with limitations, there is often one small step we can take toward a dream, calling, or purpose God has placed on our hearts. We are not helpless, because the Holy Spirit is with us and can give us wisdom, strength, and direction. The encouragement is to keep praying, discerning, and making plans while remaining open to God’s guidance. Waiting does not have to mean putting your life on hold. You can continue living, growing, serving, and finding joy today while trusting God with the answer you are still waiting for. Music: "Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Can I Still Make Plans While I’m Waiting on God?
Proverbs 16:9 “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.”
The title of this episode is a question I think we've all asked ourselves at one point or another during our wait. Waiting for the answers to our prayers can take a very long time, and we can get stuck in the trap of thinking we can’t make any plans until our prayers are answered. I understand the rationale for this thinking, and I get where it is coming from. However, if we don’t move forward, we wind up getting stuck. Stuck in our emotions. Stuck in our job or our relationship. Stuck in depression, anger, jealousy, and a whole lot of other emotions. Making plans while you wait does not mean you are giving up on what you are praying for; it means you are trusting God enough to keep living while allowing Him to direct your steps.
I don’t think God wants us to stop living while we wait for him to answer our prayers. I also don’t think He wants us to be miserable while we wait. Whatever we are waiting for can be really hard or really sad. We might be waiting for God to heal us, and so we think we can’t do anything until God heals us. We can’t walk, we can’t go out, we can’t try new things. We just have to sit here and wait until God heals us, and then we can start living our lives. We know God has put amazing things inside of us, and we want to share them with the world. We say yes to His plan. We say yes after he heals us. Because we are sick or injured, and until He heals us, we are helpless.
It is easy to think this way. It is easy to get caught up in ourselves and all the things we can’t do. These things are real. These are true limitations, and I am not dismissing them. Today, what I would like to do is challenge the story you are telling yourself that you have to get your miracle, or the answer to your prayers, before you can do anything. Is it true that today you can’t take one step towards the thing you believe God is calling you to? Is it true that you are helpless? I am 99% sure that the answer to the first question is no. I am 100% sure that the answer to the second question is no.
Let’s look at the first question I asked. Is it true that today you can’t take one step towards the thing you believe God is calling you to? Take a minute to think about what you feel God is calling you to do, or even just something on your heart that you would love to do if you were healed and feeling like you could do anything. Ask God to show you one small step you could take towards that goal or dream today. That doesn’t mean you are going to achieve the dream, goal, or mission tomorrow, but what is one tiny step? If you feel God wants you to evangelize to people about how great Jesus is and yet you can’t walk outside your apartment, then what can you do in your apartment? How can you use social media to tell people all about Jesus? Maybe you could see if there are any prisons, homeless shelters, or nursing homes that have a pen pal service, and you could write to people about the love that Jesus has for them. Or even just writing to them about anything and letting Jesus love them through you.
Do you see how there is almost always something you can do with the limitations that you have until you are healed? What if God wants to see what you will do with what you have before He gives you more? What if He wants to see you stop complaining and start celebrating the things you do have, the things you can do. God knows everything about you, and if He placed this desire or this calling on your heart, He will fulfill it. He may be waiting for your cooperation. He may be waiting for you to say, “Ok, Lord, I know my healing is coming, but while I wait, I will use what you have given me to honor you in some way.” If you do this, if you shift your focus from all that you will do one day when God gives you more to what you can do today with what you have, your life will change. You will be surprised how much happier and more fulfilled you will feel while you wait.
Now let’s look at question #2. Is it true that you are helpless? Each one of us has the Holy Spirit living inside of us. If you are listening to this podcast and you haven't been baptized, I want to encourage you to look into it, because when we have the Holy Spirit living inside us, we can never claim to be helpless. When we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, we have the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us. How could we be powerless when someone so powerful lives inside us?
Life is hard, and we don’t want to make it any harder. Sometimes this means that we don’t push through barriers. We try to do something, hit resistance, and give up. We figure if God wanted us to do it, then He would make it happen. This can be true. God doesn’t want us to do some things, so He closes the door. However, God also wants us to work to overcome other things so we can be stronger on the other side. We have to be careful not to take everything that happens as a sign from God that we shouldn’t do it or that we should give up.
God isn’t the only one who can give us signs. The enemy can also close doors for us. The enemy can also throw roadblocks in our way. I think God sometimes allows this to happen because He knows how strong we are. He knows we can overcome these roadblocks. He knows we can find a different door if the devil closes that one. But if we don’t try to overcome them. If we just give in because we think it’s God closing the door, then the enemy wins, and we blame God. The only way to know the difference is to pray, discern, spend time talking to the Lord, and ask the Lord if he closed the door. Ask the Lord if you should keep going or turn around. Ask the Lord if you should find another door or kick that one down. If you spend time with the Lord, He will direct your ways.
Today’s verse tells us this. “The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.” If you give God a chance, He will direct your steps. He will help you make plans while you wait for the answers to your prayers to come. I believe with all my heart that God doesn’t want us to stop living our lives while we wait for Him to answer our prayers. I think He wants every single one of us to have joy while we wait. To live our lives as fully as we can while we wait. Can you start making plans while you wait?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we love you. We ask you to show us what we can do while we wait. We ask that you help us to be grateful for all we have, even when we feel like we are lacking so much. Help us focus on what we have instead of what we don’t, and what we can do instead of what we can’t. Help us to find joy while we wait, and help us to feel ok with making plans while we wait for your timing. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name. Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2026 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I can control you through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To move you in the ways you should go. To give you the words to say. To bring you closer to me. And in doing that, you will bring others closer to me. And they will recognize their God in action.”