Episode 15: Waiting on God's Timing
Waiting on God When You Want to Run
In this deeply honest episode, Amy LeSage shares her real-time struggle with waiting on God’s timing when all she craves is forward movement. After taking on a small refinishing touch-up job for a past client—a door she thought God had firmly closed—Amy wrestles with temptation, impatience, and the pull of old passions. Navigating life’s challenges and uncertain seasons, she offers insight on trusting God even when the way forward is unclear.
Using a relatable traffic analogy, Amy explains why quick fixes and shortcuts rarely produce progress and how they can lead us off God’s intended path. She discusses the importance of discerning God’s voice versus the enemy’s, staying patient and obedient during long waiting seasons, and renewing your mind through scripture, especially Romans 12:2.
If you’re feeling frustrated, stuck, or unsure about what to do next in your faith journey, this episode encourages you to hold fast, resist temptation, and trust in God’s perfect timing.
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What you’ll learn in this episode:
- Why movement isn’t always progress
- How to recognize God’s voice versus temptation
- The challenge—and blessing—of waiting seasons
- Resisting the urge for quick fixes and shortcuts
- Practical encouragement for staying faithful through uncertainty
- The power of renewing your mind (Romans 12:2)
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Scripture Highlight: Romans 12:2
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00:00 Introduction and Topic Setup
00:27 Facing Old Fears and Challenges
01:27 The Struggle for Movement and Patience
03:48 Personal Reflections and Spiritual Journey
10:13 Temptations and Staying on God's Path
18:40 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
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🎵 Check out these songs
➺ “Flowers” - Samantha Ebert [feat. Seph Schueter]
➺ “The Gardener” - Sarah Kroger
➺ “Multiplied” - NEEDTOBREATHE
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TRANSCRIPT - EP. 15
Hi guys. Welcome to the FOUND & REFINED podcast. I am your host, Amy LeSage. And thank you so much for being here today. Um, I was battling, which topic I wanted to talk about this week. And it came down to like, today is the one day where I can record, and it's just so interesting because I had to do a refinishing job,
it was just some touchups, but I haven't done a refinishing job in over a year, and I've been really scared to open that door, even a little bit. I felt convicted it was a three-story, wood staircase that I did a couple years ago.
And they had some things done, um, to their floors, and there were nicks on some of the staircase. And I had a custom stain that I used. So they needed the help. I knew it would be hard to step back into that space because I just feel like that door was closed so tightly by God that it just, it, it made me nervous. It made me nervous to go and even touch the handle of the door that he had closed so significantly, and it made me nervous to actually open it and get my hands dirty again in that kind of a way and do that job even to help someone. It just made me nervous. So this episode is gonna be about the struggle with that right now because I'm literally in the moment, where I'm feeling a tug of war of like movement, just any movement feels better than waiting for the next right thing. So that's kind of what we're gonna talk about. And I'm hoping that this resonates with some of you in whatever space you are in.
Following God over the past couple of years and his plan for me has sometimes been super easy and sometimes just really, really challenging, and I'm in one of those moments right now where I just feel in my body, I just want movement. I want forward movement in my life. I wanna see it. I wanna feel it. I wanna feel like something's about to go forward. And I want to almost have the comfort of knowing what that thing is. I knew this was gonna happen the second that I touched refinishing again, even in the smallest way, I don't regret it. I just knew that something like this was gonna follow.
It is a real tug of war when I feel like God is calling me to do something and I don't see the end game, yet.
I hope one day I will. I just don't see it. I don't know what it is. And when I'm being called into a space that isn't financially supporting me at the time, it makes this tug of war even harder.
It's so tempting to not say, I'm gonna put this on pause because I need movement. I've been stagnant. Things have been moving forward in other ways, but not in the way I want 'em to. Not in the way that I want my life to be moving forward. And I'm trying to follow your plan, Lord.
And it's hard. And I'm not seeing much forward movement. And sometimes I just wanna run. I just wanna go. I just really wanna go, and as my health has been getting better, which thank you so much if you guys have been praying for me, thank you so much. My, there are just changes that are happening, and my voice is better and I feel better, and now I wanna go!
/ This thought popped into my head, you know, when you're like in traffic and you just want to move, even if going the back routes and moving all around, just trying to dodge the traffic doesn't get you any further.
I've done that so many times. I'll hop out of this long, long line to take this shortcut way, and as I'm about to pull back out, I see the car that was like three cars behind me pass. I didn't save any extra time. It felt better to be moving somewhere than to just sit in traffic waiting for it to move. And that's literally how I feel right now. And maybe you can relate in your life. When you're following God and his plan for you, I have to tell you, it takes patience. And within that waiting period, he's working. He's been working with me this whole time... but my human nature,
I want to move faster. I want things to be different. I don't wanna sit in this traffic any longer. I want to move forward. And, and it's not to say I haven't. It was just really hard. It was really hard taking a step back into a past life that I had as this person that I am now. Have you ever been… here's this, have you ever found yourself in a season that you're not so happy that you're in? You're not so sure what it even is. You know that you've been through the ringer on multiple occasions throughout this season.
You know that you don't have a lot to even say has gone well? Those seasons are hard.
Honestly, these, these sweet clients I have the best clients. They've been waiting, they've been patiently waiting. I really didn't have the energy for a long time to do that job. And then to be completely honest, I was just terrified to step back into it.
Even for the slightest little touch-up things, it's just, I'm getting my hands in it again, and it's scary when I know that that was a passion of mine. I know that that was something I loved and had a really hard time walking away from to follow God's path for me, and then to to be trying to do the right thing to help these people because
I don't wanna leave any client high and dry. Um, but I gotta be honest, like the questions that could have possibly come up of like, how have you been?
What have you been doing? I didn't really wanna face that. I didn't really wanna talk about, this has been one of the hardest seasons of my life. Well, what's your company doing? Well, I didn't end up opening that store the last time we talked. And life kind of continually started to fall apart, and so. What's even harder is when you're going into those situations where, you know, people know something about how your life used to be, and you've gone through a really hard time, but your life still isn't on track with where you know it's going to be. Following God and following his plan for me, I don't know yet. I don't see where this podcast where this life.. I don't see where this is leading yet. I know it's going somewhere because I know for a fact I'm following God, but I don't know where yet. So it's very hard to talk about sometimes, and it's also very hard to speak about, and I haven't even spoken about it with you guys very much, but like what happened for the year when it was like lights out?
I was completely attacked by illness. It's just not fun to go back into a situation where you had to talk about that stuff, and they were extremely sweet, super understanding. I mean, all those questions arose. I knew they would. It's totally fine. I missed doing the job a little bit.
I was like, thank God I still have it in me. Thank God I didn't lose it completely. I would've been sad if I didn't know how to do the work, but no, it was like riding a bicycle. You could get back on, and I was able to do the work. I left feeling torn because part of me is like, I just wanna run towards something, God. Like, I just wanna run towards something. These seasons where it's like you don't know what's up ahead, you don't know what you're running towards. I've learned when I run towards something without even knowing, just thinking that's the way I'm supposed to go.
I've learned personally God's taught me to stop running. Slow down, slow down, right? Like when you run towards things constantly, you're missing the point. You're not taking in what you need to take in. You're not doing the right thing. You actually missed the turn back there because you ran past it towards what you thought you should be running towards.
I hope this is making sense. What I'm trying to say is God's taught me to slow down, but in this moment, I wanna run. I want movement. I wanna be in the car that goes all the different ways through each subdivision. And I don't care how far off my path gets, my insides, like that's what I'm, I'm just, I want movement.
I don't wanna creep forward anymore, but I have learned, and I know that that's not the best thing to do. That doesn't get me any further. It feels good in the moment, but it doesn't get me any further. These are the times where you start like, I'm craving something.
Like I'm craving a feeling that I've not had in a long time. I'm craving success. I'm craving, um,
yeah, I think it is just feeling successful at something. I'm craving that. And I know. Now, having tasted and refinishing again, I know I could go get clients.
I know I could go get money. I know how to do this work. I should just go do it. And, and I know that that's not God. I actually know for a fact that that's not God. But it's still hard.
/ I don't know if maybe you can relate in some way where you're feeling like, I wanna follow God, but this is the long haul. This is a long game. This is, this is taking a lot longer than if I would just I would feel better. That's what it is. I would feel better if I just went and got some clothes. I would get a hit of like, I feel good, I feel good. I would feel better if I just went and vaped a bunch. I would feel better if I just binge-eat. I would feel better if I just went and gambled and got into this thing that gives me this hit of, of happiness that isn't real. Patience and walking with God takes self-control. A lot of self-control and a lot of trust. And I trust him wholeheartedly, but that doesn't mean that the enemy isn't out there trying to tempt me every time he gets the chance. And he's doing it to you, too. And you need to be aware. I am aware, I'm aware I'm struggling. I know I'm not gonna go start buying up a bunch of stuff. I know that I've I've stopped those habits, but I feel them coming back.
That's just reality, which tells me that I need to continue to stay slow, and even though I wanna run, I know that that's where the devil wants me to go. God's not telling me to run yet because he hasn't made clear the path I'm on, he hasn't made clear where I'm running to. Going backwards, turning backwards, and following what I used to do- the door he's already closed or going into habits that I used to have is obviously not God. Once you can start deciphering who's talking to you in your mind. You can talk yourself out of some of these distressing feelings.
Sometimes just the knowledge of knowing that's not God, Amy. Continue straight on this path. Don't give up. Don't stop. Continue straight. You might not see what's ahead of you. You might not know is very unclear, but it will be revealed in God's timing, and his timing is best. And he, I have to keep telling myself this.
He wants what's best, what's good, right, and pleasing. He wants what's best for your life. He wants what's best for your life. He doesn't want you to suffer. You are learning. You are growing. It might be a hard season, but something good will come from it. I feel like I can look back and take bits and pieces of very difficult seasons of how God worked good into those.
I guess my point for this particular episode is to tell you if you're struggling with that battle of like, I just want to know what's ahead. You are not alone. I am feeling the same way.
But jumping into a whole new direction and a whole new path just to feel movement isn't gonna work out or get me ahead. I know that. And I wanna reassure you that if you're in the traffic and you're in the lane that's creeping and you just wanna get around it, I get it.
I, I understand it and don't do it.
God will open up the road for you when it's time. Your road might be narrow, your road might be small, but lanes are gonna open up. Things are gonna open up, when it's time. When it's perfectly right timing for you, things will open up. Hold on, and I'm saying this to myself. Hold on. Stay focused. Stay true to why you chose to be on the path you're on.
Stay true to why you are not taking the quick ways and the quick fixes and the band-aids like we talked about last week, and all of those things, stay true to why you're on this path. Even if it feels hard. Stick to it. Focus on it and continue forward. If you are walking with Jesus on this path. If your intention is to be walking with Jesus and you are trying your darnedest to do that, stick with it. Things will open up, and they do for me. It's just in this moment for right now, and I'm just being honest about my struggle because struggles are real. Self-doubt is real. Quick fixes are real.
All of that is real tempting, but I know better. He's taught me I know better. That doesn't mean that the devil isn't gonna try and get me to switch paths.
Of course, he will. Of course, the enemy wants you to switch paths. Of course, he wants you to go chase your tail and run around and get lost. Of course, he does get off this path with God. It's too slow. It's too slow. You deserve to run. You deserve to fly. You deserve to go faster. That's what he would say.
If you are on a path with God, I just wanna say it, if you are on a path with God, which I am, and it's not an easy path right now, this is hard right now, but I am focused and intentional about following him. Sometimes that's gonna be hard. Sometimes that's gonna come with patience.
Sometimes that's gonna come with waiting. Sometimes I'm gonna move really, really fast and things are gonna look good, but I haven't gotten there yet. At some point, things are gonna clear and I'm gonna see a little further ahead of me.
The waiting game is hard, but it's worth it. Every step I've taken on this path for the past two years, as hard as it's been, has been worth it in the long run. It's been better than anything I've ever done on my own. It's been better than any other path I've tried to take. It's been better than any quick fix I've tried to lean into.
It's better, but it's still challenging sometimes, and I knew this would be. I'm not surprised. I'll get through it. I need a day to just be like, poor me. Maybe not even a day. Maybe I just need a couple hours. I don't wanna be poor me for too long., 'cause I really am blessed in the long run. I really am blessed.
I'm feeling healthier. I have my kids. I have a roof over my head, and I have food. Like I'm okay. But the temptation to do something that feels like forward movement is real.
God's constantly gonna give you choices when you're following him. He's constantly gonna give you a choice to make a turn, to get off the path, or to stay straight with him. And that's when you have to really question your thought process and who's talking to you when you're getting these thoughts of get off this path. Is it God? Is he saying, okay, it's time to turn, or is it the devil saying, let's distract them? Let's distract 'em so that they can't help other people. Let's distract 'em so that they can't get better.
Let's distract 'em so they feel alone and helpless. Let's distract 'em so they get a quick fix, and then they feel really sad and defeated and angry at themselves for getting off the path. Anything to get you away from God's plan for your life is what the devil will do. So you constantly have to check yourself, which is what I'm doing.
I've talked it out with you throughout this podcast. I already know who's speaking in my ear right now, and I'm gonna tell him he can get lost in the name of Jesus. He can go because, as tempting as it is to
have a quick fix. I already know that that's not, that's not where I should be going. So I just have to tell that voice to go away and be quiet, get lost. I'm not here to hear any of that. I'm here to move forward in my life and see what God has in store for me. And just know, friends, you're not alone if that path is seeming long or frustrating or slow or anything agonizing, um, you're not alone. It's worth it and stay on the path, please. Stay on the path of following where God wants you to go. Don't turn back to old ways. Don't turn back to old habits. Stay with him. There is a light. But sometimes it's a long game, but you can do it.
He wouldn't ask you to do anything that you are not capable of doing. He knows you better than you know yourself, and he wouldn't do that to you. But there are times where we ourselves just get very impatient, and I'm at that point today. But I will get over it. I will get through it. God will get me through.
He will, he always does. He has mercy on me for having these feelings and these frustrations, and I'm not angry at God. I'm just, I'm just sometimes frustrated at the season, and I think that's fair.
I think that's really fair. As long as I'm not turning on him, which I'm not.
But I think later today, I am just gonna be praying that he takes that.
Is it disappointment? Whatever these feelings are, that he removes them from my heart and my mind because I need to stay focused on what's ahead and just trust the process. Um, trust and faith is hard. But it's so rewarding, and I've been rewarded. I have been rewarded throughout these two years. I've seen the growth in myself in my life.
It's so worth it, but I'm still human, and you are too. So give yourself grace if you're also frustrated. Give yourself grace if you're finding it hard to follow God's calling on your life, to follow God's changes in your life, to follow God at all, because it just seems easier to not. Give yourself some grace, but stay on the path. Don't turn. And if you have turned, which that's happens sometimes, just give yourself some grace and call on his name. Call to Jesus to get you back on track. He doesn't give up on you.
He doesn't lose interest in you. He's always there. I'm just trying to make this season go as smoothly as possible, so I'm trying not to make any humongously wrong turns because I already know how much it sets me back, and so I'm really trying to stay focused on him. So as tempting as it is to just start calling up some people and getting some jobs going and moving forward and feeling like I'm all right, I'm back in the game. I'm making some money. I feel good 'cause I'm doing something I know I'm good at. I already know that that's not gonna move me forward to a point I wanna be at.
So. I gotta stay focused, but it is hard sometimes, and you're not alone if you're feeling that way. And, just remember, God wants what's best for you. Just repeat that over and over and over again.
Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, perfect will. Thank God he wants what's best for us, or this would be impossible. Thank God we can lean back on him, having our best interest at heart.
Whether we see it or not, he does. And so we need to lean into that during hard seasons. We need to lean into that during tempting times. We need to lean into the knowledge of knowing, following him might not always feel the best for our human soul, for our human nature, for our flesh. Might not always feel the best, but it is the best thing for us.
It is the best decision we can make, so stay on it. Stay focused. You've got this. You can do this. I'm praying for all of us. I'm just praying for all of us
that we keep our eyes and our heads and everything, our lives just focused on him first. God first. My desire, my temptation, my wanting to feel successful, my wanting to feel forward movement, is not God first. I already know that that's money first. I just place money in front of him in that moment and my own desires.
It can happen that quickly.
It's a constant check-in, keep checking in, making sure that God is at the top so that you can stay on the right path. I mean, we're gonna mess up sometimes, so obviously give yourself grace, but the quicker you can catch it, like ask yourself, " Am I putting God first?" The quicker you can get out of it. If it's the wrong path, the quicker you can get back to the right path. If you get so far down that line, which I've done before, and he'll still get you out, he still rescues you all the time.
Jesus is rescuing us, but it's just an easier path back to him. Quicker. Quicker path. So stay focused. You've got this. I'm praying for you, and thank you again for listening. Please like, share, um, review all the things.
I appreciate all of you who have done that. Thank you so much. Um, and yeah. I look forward to talking to you next week. See you then. Bye.