Sometimes, Just Being Patient Is Better

Being patient has played an interesting role in my life. Before I came to work at Dave Ramsey‘s, I spent five extremely long years running logistics. It was a job I hated because it wasn’t uncommon for me to get a call at 2 a.m. – on my brick of a company cell phone that nearly melted my ear off – and have to work for a couple of hours.

Side note: If you call me on the phone, I have a tendency to try to quickly hang up. Those years ruined me for talking on the phone, period. Anyway, it was a frustrating time in my life. I volunteered with a youth ministry, which was considerably more exciting, and all of the youth leaders I worked with knew I hated my job. They would tell me to get my resume out there! But at the time, I didn’t feel released by God.

Finally, I felt as though I was supposed to put together my resume. I asked the only person I knew who had a computer at home if she would work on it with me. We spent an hour putting it together. When she hit the button and it started to print out, I said, “I’m so sorry. I’m not supposed to send that out.” I had no clue why. I just knew I wasn’t released.

Then one day, I had an amazing conversation with one of the women in the office. She had completely turned her back on God and swore there couldn’t be one. Why? Because her son-in-law killed her grandson a few years earlier. I had no clue. I don’t even remember how it came up, but we grabbed a back office and spent the next two hours discussing God. At the end, we prayed together and she received God back as her Lord.

When I got back to my desk, my phone rang. It was a guy who used to work for me, and he said, “Hey, this company contacted me and they know who you are. They want to hire you for a lot more money. Do you have a resume?” Are you kidding? Did that just happen?

You see, there are a lot of things we do in business because of our experience or because our gut tells us to. But sometimes, you just might find Someone Else is trying to guide and direct you. Yes, it might be vague and confusing, but listen. You just never know what a little patience will do in your life … or someone else’s.

Sometimes, the hardest thing is to patiently wait on something or someone. But many times, we find that waiting brings the sweetest results. One of my life verses is Psalms 62:5: “My soul, wait silently on God alone, for my expectation is from Him.”

Question: Have you ever been frustrated with a situation that wasn’t moving, only to find it turned out better than you expected later on?

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Meet Chris LoCurto

CEO

Chris has a heart for changing lives by helping people discover the life and business they really want.

Decades of personal and leadership development experience, as well as running multi-million dollar businesses, has made him an expert in life and business coaching. personality types, and communication styles.

Growing up in a small logging town near Lake Tahoe, California, Chris learned a strong work ethic at home from his full-time working mom. He began his leadership and training career in the corporate world, starting but at E'TRADE.

24 thoughts on “Sometimes, Just Being Patient Is Better”

  1. I am sitting looking at Psalm 46:10 on my wall…”Be Still and know that I am God.” It helps me immensely with waiting. Imagine, a D that has learned about patience! (learned about and sometimes practices!)

  2. I was in a good job, but wanted more. After several attempts to jump start a change; sending out resumes, interviews, and prayer, I had a feeling of peace that I would be able to move into one of the positions I had applied for. I was shocked when I didn’t recieve the job. It took almost two years, but eventually I was shown a differnent path and opportunities. I was able to recieve additional education and training through an internship program that didn’t exist before. I have a better future now that I would have had if I had been given what I wanted at the time. I recognize this as God’s plan and influence in my life. This lesson has helped me to trust God and be patient with my frustrations. Your message this morning was so similar to my own story. Thank you for sharing.

  3. I know there have been periods of my life where the waiting has been tough. But it’s those times that turned me into the person I am now, and it’s those times that gifted me to be able to be used now. God’s timing is always perfect.
    However, I think there’s also a danger in not being proactive. I believe that waiting on God isn’t a passive process, but an active and expectant process.

    1. I agree. You have to spend time listening, but not sitting around doing nothing in the process. The important thing is finding the quiet time.

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  4. Yes, I have. And it was my current position! I thought God was moving me to something “new” when in fact He just wanted me to move my business UP another level – He didn’t want me OUT of the business. Amazing how He has worked in the last 6 years – I never would have believed it possible.

  5. Chris, thank you for writing this today. It’s just what I needed on this Wednesday morning. This story reminds me of a book I just finished over Thanksgiving. You know I love business books, and this one is worth passing along. It’s called “What Does God Know About Business?” It’s by Nico Van Der Merwe, a South African businessman. He simply tells his story about God’s provision in his business. He prays expectantly and is then patient as He trusts the Lord to intercede. Anyway, his testimony is a living example of Psalm 62:5. Here is the book’s site: https://nicovandermerwe.com/.

  6. This reminds me of something the Lord showed me several years ago! I call it “Prepare for There”! Our provision is in the place of our assignment, and our assignment changes from time to time. If we are not prepared for that new assignment we won’t be ready for the promotion. The hard part is God usually doesn’t reveal what that next assignment is while you are preparing for it (remember Joseph, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t expecting to be ruling Egypt anytime soon!) That new assignment might just be a new opportunity within your business, not neccessarily something completely different. Several years ago I decided to start being in the Atlanta Home Show since we are a local remodeling company. I had not done any on my own but had helped out on a few with some other companies in the past. The fall show was about 3 weeks away so we started preparing for the show in February. While we were in Office Depot having new flyers and business cards made for the February show my cell phone rang. It was a person I do some consulting for from time to time. He said he was going to be in the fall home show and wanted to know if I would like to share his booth. Since I had just ordered the material I would need I was able to do it. It cost me about $300.00 and I sold $250,000.00 worth of remodeling at it. And of course I have been doing 2-3 home shows a year since! My point is if I had not been moved by the leading of the Holy Spirit I would not have been able to take advantage of this new assignment. Preparing for there is just walking in faith in your business and being obedient to His leadings even when it doesn’t make sense at the moment! This was a little different twist on your post but it reminded me of it!

    1. I love how He shows up with something that’s confusing or foreign to us, and it blesses us in such a way that we HAVE to give him the Glory! Thanks for sharing Robert!

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  7. Ah, that was creapy… ‘hello this is God calling’…

    Now did you lose God at some point, or did you find him again in that office, just seems a bit unclear…

    1. Do you mean the lady? She turned he back on God when her son-in-law killed her Grandson. Said God couldn’t exist.

  8. I have had a couple interesting things happen to me throughout my life and my career that in retrospect, could only have been by God’s design. I could have saved myself some heartache by not being too impatient:)

    It does sometimes feel like we are (i’m) swimming against the tide, especially in our culture today where the motto is “grab every opportunity that comes your way with both hands, no less”, “we have to have this today”, “live your life to the full today” etc, but by knowing and acknowledging that we are not really in control can and does simplify things a lot. To your point, this confirms patience is a virtue!

  9. I worked for a company for a few years where almost the entire time I knew I didn’t want to be there. I just had it to help support my family. I would spend over half the day just staring at the wall, with nothing to do, no room for working my way up, and had a very hateful coworker. I came home crying almost everyday and my husband finally convinced me, even if I didn’t have another job lined up, I needed to quit.
    I revised my resume, let key people know I was looking, and picked a few places to mail my resume to. For some reason, things/events kept getting in the way of me being able to send my resume out. That Sunday, in both Sunday school and church, I felt like God was directly telling me to wait–He wanted me in a holding pattern. I knew I wouldn’t be at my job forever, but I didn’t want to stay, I didn’t like what God was telling me, I cried. BUT I realized no matter how miserable I was at my job, following God’s plan was more important to me. I didn’t send my resume out.
    A couple months later, another business approached me and asked if I was interested in applying. I knew immediately that was why God had me wait! And it was worth it!

  10. I understand your patience. I was in a job that I hated and didn’t want to be at but the Lord kept me in a holding pattern. Finally, after about 4 years he released me and I ended up doing what I had dreamed of doing. The hardest part is learning what to do during the waiting time. It’s easy to think that the time of waiting is wasted time but it’s usually a time of training in our lives for something better.

    1. That’s so true! And sometimes I think He just wants us so settle down and focus on what’s around us. His timetable just isn’t the same as ours. Thanks Eric, good stuff!!

  11. This post reminds me of the bible verse from Psalm 37:7
    “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.” and “Be still, and know that I am God;” from Psalm 46:10

  12. I think it takes growing and learning to realize that things will work out better if we wait, have patience, learn from them and let them do their perfect work just like God is in each of us. It is hard to do sometimes.

  13. I understand your patience. I was in a job that I hated and didn’t need to be at but the Lord kept me in a holding pattern. Finally, after about 4 years he released me and I ended up doing what I had dreamed of doing. The hardest part is learning what to do during the waiting time.

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