God’s Timing for Success: Why I’m Glad I Didn’t Succeed Sooner

I was the type of person that was really fixated on making tons of money.

I remember trying a lot of online businesses and affiliate marketing, reading so many books, getting into crypto, and all that stuff.

I wanted to succeed so badly that I never stopped to ask whether I was ready.

But I understand now that God was protecting me from myself.

Because I know for a fact, if all those things that I wanted at that time had happened, I might not even exist right now.

I didn’t have the mental wisdom or the capacity to handle it with wisdom, especially back then.

So looking back, I truly believe that everything happens in God’s timing, and God’s timing is never late.

I believe the visions, the dreams, and the goals that you have in your heart can be there for a reason, but I also feel like God will prepare you first to make sure you have the wisdom to steward what He gives you so you don’t hurt yourself with it.

Looking back, it was really about choosing alignment over control.

I Understand It Differently Now Because I’m a Parent

It reminds me of how we are with our children.

We tell them:

“Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do that.”

“You’re not ready.”

Not because we don’t love them.

Because we do.

We know there are things they are capable of handling later that we would gladly give them, but not right now.

And I feel like God does that with us too.

God knows the exact timing, and I don’t.

There were things I wanted so badly at one point in my life, but looking back, I know I was not ready for them.

At the time, I wouldn’t have thought that way.

I would have thought:

Why isn’t this working?

Why am I not making the money I want?

Why are these businesses not working out?

Why is this taking so long?

But now I can look back and see it completely differently.

What felt like a setback delay was really protection.

I now see the delay as part of a growth process.

I Had Knowledge, but I Didn’t Have Discipline

For years, I struggled with discipline.

Actually, I wasn’t disciplined.

I would always start something and not finish it.

I had all this knowledge, but it took me a very, very long while to understand that knowledge by itself was not enough.

Now I actually crave discipline.

I respect people who have the discipline to take care of their body, take care of their finances, take care of their marriage, take care of their house, and be an asset to their community.

That became something I started looking at completely differently.

Because I started realizing that life is not just about what you know.

It’s what you actually do with what you know.

Discipline turned out to be a progress process, not a switch I could flip.

I Used to Live for the Day

I have struggled with discipline for as long as I can remember.

Really, not committing to anything.

I feel like I learned some of that from the males around me growing up.

I always lived for the day, basically the flesh.

I didn’t like wanting something, having the means, and putting it off.

That type of mismanagement eventually drove me into maxing out our credit cards.

Not all at one time.

It was buying stuff here and there.

And by the time I realized it, I was around $50,000 in debt.

I tried to pay it off without worrying my wife.

But for some reason she got a notification from her credit reporting, which also took a hit because of it, as well as mine.

And that really put us in a state where, whenever she had downtime from work and sat at home, all she thought about was the debt.

Then it started opening old wounds and things would spiral.

The Crazy Thing Is, We Didn’t Buy Anything Extravagant

When I really looked back at where the money went, it shocked me.

Nowhere special.

I wish I could say I bought my wife some fancy shoes or something.

But we don’t really buy stuff like that.

We shop at not-too-expensive stores.

I didn’t buy myself anything expensive either.

It was literally groceries, eating out, bills, rent payment, and life.

It just ballooned.

That was what shocked me.

I would look at all the little charges:

And they really add up.

It really made me understand discipline.

That Debt Forced Me to Change

Here is the thing though.

I know this debt will be paid.

And I am trusting God with the rest.

And for some reason, this debt became one of those moments that forced me to change.

I had quit and changed other addictions I dealt with from my teenage years.

Some of them had grown with me for years.

And when that moment came, I just quit them like I had never done them.

I don’t crave them.

Even if people do certain things in front of me, I’m not tempted.

Sometimes it amazes me that I was ever doing them in the past.

But this financial wastefulness crept up on me differently.

I had saved.

I got our credit over 700.

I got credit cards as a financial cushion.

Then it started with one card.

Then:

“Oh my God, I need to stop using this card.”

“Maybe I can use a little from that one.”

“Oh, I can pay that off.”

And before you know it, nine or ten months are gone just like that.

I Do Things Completely Differently Now

Today I do almost the opposite of how I used to.

I write down what I spend, down to the penny, in my blue book.

I never did that before.

I really look at our spending.

We stopped eating out almost completely.

When I say almost completely, I mean 99.999 percent reduction.

Even with groceries, I started intentionally driving to a grocery store farther away.

Because let’s face it, grocery shopping has become the new restaurant.

You pick up a few things, you look at the bill and think:

“Oh my God, I just came to get some eggs. How am I paying $87?”

That started changing how I looked at money.

I Wish I Didn’t Have to Learn It This Way

I wish it didn’t come to owing that much money.

I know very well it would have been better if I had learned that lesson without getting into that situation.

But I also know this was one of those moments that changed me.

I started looking at it differently.

I started thinking:

Maybe this is the moment I will forever change.

Because if this had not happened, I don’t know if I would be the person I am today.

I started framing it differently.

Not pretending it was good.

Not pretending debt is something I wanted.

But asking:

What is this forcing me to learn?

It Even Pushed Me to Do Things I Never Thought I Would Do

I never thought I would write a blog.

Let alone write about my dirty laundry.

Never in a million years.

But here we are.

I think when you have really gone through something, eventually you start thinking:

You know what?

At the very least, maybe I can make someone laugh.

You can only do it one thing at a time.

You are much more significant than a debt.

What the Bible Says About Being Ready

The Bible is full of people who carried a promise long before they were ready to carry it. Joseph, David, and Moses each went through a season of preparation before stepping into what God had for them. The Bible also reminds us in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that there is a season for everything, and that verse changed how I read my own delay. Jesus walked in the Father’s plan and never rushed ahead of it, and I am learning to do the same. God’s timing shows up on every page of the Bible.

I Still Believe God Restores

Always, despite what comes to your mind, find something you are grateful for.

Tap into that.

Pray.

Thank God for restoration.

Try to listen to what God is saying.

It might be that He puts something in your heart.

If you are waiting on something, trust God with the timing, because He knows what you are ready for.

Some people call it God timing. Others say Lord timing. I just call it mercy.

I truly believe God was preparing me.

Because looking back, if everything I wanted had happened when I wanted it, I don’t know what I would have done with it.

I didn’t have the wisdom.

I didn’t have the discipline.

I didn’t understand stewardship.

I do now more than I did then.

And I’m still learning today.

I now know God’s plan for me was always bigger than my own plan.

But I’m extremely grateful that God led me through a path where I started appreciating and understanding these things differently.

Because to whom much is given, much is asked.

And the wisdom that comes from God beats everything.

It helps you become a good parent.

A good father.

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