Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
Encouragement and Inspiration for women choosing to rise above the “just survive” mentality and instead set their mind on thriving in all that they say and do. The ultimate goal is to equip you to pursue whatever is excellent in the midst of your ordinary life and in all that you say and do.
Whatever Is Excellent with Leanne Tuggle
49: Stop Waiting for Someday
Have you ever kept something special tucked away, saving it for a perfect moment that never seems to arrive? Whether it's the beautiful coffee mug gathering dust in your cabinet or the dream you've postponed until "someday," this anniversary episode of Whatever is Excellent tackles our tendency to delay joy and purpose.
Reflecting on one year of podcasting, I share the personal revelation that transformed my perspective – standing in my kitchen covered in baby spit-up, finally deciding to use my "special" mugs instead of waiting for some undefined future occasion. This seemingly small choice represented a profound shift in recognizing that ordinary moments deserve celebration too.
Life naturally includes seasons of waiting, but there's a crucial distinction between God-ordained waiting and self-imposed delay. Biblical waiting builds faith through active trust, while fear-based procrastination often masquerades as patience. "The word decide means to cut off all other options," and sometimes our spiritual growth hinges on having the courage to make that decision despite uncertainty. As God told Moses at the Red Sea, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward."
Many of us postpone taking action until we feel completely ready, but God frequently asks us to take that first step in faith before revealing the complete plan. When I finally decided to start this podcast, it wasn't on a special day – it was just an ordinary Tuesday transformed by obedience. What first step might God be asking you to take today? Stop waiting for someday and embrace the sacred opportunity of now. Subscribe and join me on this journey of finding excellence in everyday faithfulness.
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Today marks one year of Whatever is Excellent. If you have been listening since the beginning, know that I appreciate you so much. It is your encouragement and enthusiasm that inspires me to keep writing and recording. And if you are just tuning in to this podcast or your bestie sent you the link, I am so happy that you are here and it is my prayer that every episode speaks to your heart in the way only the Holy Spirit can orchestrate. Whatever is excellent was born out of a desire to walk in obedience, even though starting a podcast wasn't on my bingo card of things I thought I would do someday. Sometimes God calls you to do things out of your comfort zone as a way of bringing us back to himself. He challenges us so that we can fall on our knees before him, seeking his will, and it is often from this place of surrender that we find whatever is excellent and praiseworthy. Thank you for listening and supporting this podcast and I pray you continue to be encouraged and challenged with each episode. And, most importantly, it is my hope that you are inspired to pursue a deeper relationship with your Heavenly Father. And now, without any further ado, let's jump into the topic of waiting for someday. Much to my husband's dismay.
Speaker 1:I love to collect coffee mugs, and not just any coffee mugs, but the pretty ones or mugs that have some sort of a significance to me. Now, this collection of coffee mugs isn't extensive in my opinion by any means, because we do move every two to three years, and so collecting breakable things is honestly not the smartest endeavor. But I have these two coffee mugs that are my favorite and therefore my special mugs, so special, in fact, that I never used them. I would see them in the cupboard and I would smile every time I saw them while reaching for a different mug to actually use. I couldn't risk those mugs. They were the special mugs.
Speaker 1:When I was a little girl, I used to have special panties, the ones that were so pretty. I couldn't wear them, so they just stayed folded up in my dresser drawer. Perhaps someday I would put them to use. I also had special notebooks, pens, stickers, dolls you get the idea. So many special things that I just couldn't bring myself to use them Somehow. I believed that actually using these items made them less special, and so I just waited for someday when the right occasion would warrant the special, and then one day I stopped waiting.
Speaker 1:I remember standing in my kitchen covered in spit up and other questionable liquids, I was sweeping the mountain of crumbs left over from breakfast and praying that my baby twins would sleep for longer than 20 minutes so that maybe I could drink a full cup of coffee while it was still hot. I know I was really dreaming big those days of coffee while it was still hot. I know I was really dreaming big those days. As the coffee brewed, I reached for a mug and I spied those special mugs tucked in the back. Why don't I ever use those? I stared at the mugs for longer than I cared to admit before impulsively grabbing one. I poured the coffee and I quietly sipped from the special mug. And you know what? The coffee tasted the same, and yet somehow it felt like the best cup of coffee ever. Perhaps it's because it was still hot or because I stopped waiting for someday, but I think it was the best coffee ever because I decided that this ordinary moment was someday.
Speaker 1:So much of life is spent waiting. Some of this waiting is due to circumstances out of our control Waiting for your baby to arrive, waiting for the car to be out of the shop, waiting for the right man to step into your life. Waiting for your baby to arrive, waiting for the car to be out of the shop, waiting for the right man to step into your life, waiting for the promotion, waiting for the test results, waiting for orders to your next duty station, waiting for the paperwork to process. Life includes a lot of waiting, but sometimes our waiting is self-inflicted. Waiting for the right moment to start, waiting for the best time to call, waiting for Monday, waiting for a special occasion, waiting until you're older, smarter, thinner, more experienced. Waiting until you fill in the blank. What if you decided to stop waiting? What if someday is right now? What if this ordinary moment is reason enough to take that first step in faith?
Speaker 1:Exactly one year ago, I pushed a single button on my laptop and launched a podcast out into the world. There wasn't anything special or magical about that day. It was just a regular, ordinary Tuesday. But it was the day I decided to stop waiting for someday and simply start Messy. A few months later, a woman I didn't really know asked me about starting this podcast. She had a similar desire to start one and was so curious. She had a ton of questions, but the one that stood out was how did you begin? Her question startled me as I realized I didn't have a good answer for her, so I mumbled something to the effect of I don't know, I just did it. But that wasn't really the full story. I began all those years ago in my kitchen when I decided to use the special mugs. Instead of continuing to wait for the perfect someday, I decided to stop waiting until I was ready and simply take the first step.
Speaker 1:The word decide means to cut off all other options. The average adult makes 35,000 decisions every day. You decide to get out of bed. You decide what to wear, how to fix your hair, what shoes to put on. You decide to work out, to drink water, to eat breakfast. You decide what coffee mug to use. When you decide something, you cut off all the other options.
Speaker 1:Some decisions are easy to make, while others are definitely not, and it's the hard decisions that make us pause. People struggle with making decisions for a whole host of reasons, including fear of making the wrong choice or missing out on something better, perfectionism, fatigue or overwhelm. Any of these can lead to anxiety, overthinking and difficulty committing to a decision. And so we wait. We wait to decide and we remain stuck on the fence. We wait for someday.
Speaker 1:Now to be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong about waiting. In fact, the Bible has a lot to say about waiting. Psalm 27, 14 says wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. But there is a huge difference between waiting for the Lord and just waiting for someday. Waiting for the Lord is active trust and not passive delay. Waiting in a biblical sense isn't about doing nothing. It's about anchoring yourself in God's promises and leaning into prayer. It is about obedience and hope.
Speaker 1:All throughout the Bible, god often uses seasons of waiting to refine, teach and humble His people. Romans 8-25 says but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. This waiting is to build faith and perseverance and a reliance upon God instead of ourselves. When we are in seasons of waiting, we surrender our own desires and trust that God's plans will unfold right on time. One of my favorite verses on this type of waiting is Habakkuk 2.3, which says For still, the vision awaits its appointed time. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay.
Speaker 1:Biblical waiting is expectant. It looks forward with certainty because of God's goodness, faithfulness and sovereignty, as it says in Lamentations 3, 25, and 26,. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. In this sense, waiting is not wasted time. It is where God shapes us and teaches us to trust Him. Waiting lifts our eyes off of ourselves and places them on God. Waiting is an opportunity to grow in patience and cling to the assurance of hope. But I'm not talking about this kind of waiting, am I? I am talking about waiting when it's actually time to act in faith, when it's time to make a decision and move forward with wisdom and courage.
Speaker 1:While it is true that our actions should flow from God's leading and not our own impulses, so often we wait out of fear and worry. We worry about making the wrong decision, we worry about not doing something good enough, we worry about the future, we worry about failure, we worry about it being the right time, and our worry leads us to wait for the wrong reasons. The truth is that waiting in this sense can actually be considered disobedience. When Israel was stuck at the Red Sea, god told Moses in Exodus 14, 15,. Why do you cry out to me, tell the people of Israel to go forward. I love that verse. He's like I just split the sea, just go, walk, go for it, take the step. Sometimes you simply need to take that first step forward. Decide that someday is today. The best part of deciding to take action is that faithful steps doesn't mean you have to take reckless leaps.
Speaker 1:When I was first approached with the idea of starting a podcast, I immediately dismissed it. Nope, I don't want to do that. That sounds way too hard. I don't even know where to start. Maybe someday I will be in a season to explore that, but definitely not right now. And, to be honest, it probably wasn't the right season in that exact moment. But then the Lord continued to place this idea before me, and pretty soon. The evidence that this was something I needed to take action on was too much for me to ignore. Suddenly, someday was now and I took comfort in the words God spoke to Joshua. Joshua 1.9 says Be strong and courageous, do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go. And once the decision was made to start a podcast, it was just a matter of taking that first step with courage, despite the uncertainty. And that first step was simply taking a course on how to start a podcast. From there, the path to this podcast was clear. I just needed to take that first step in humility and obedience.
Speaker 1:So often God asks us to take that first step in faith before he reveals the rest of the plan to us. God's Word teaches us that taking action requires prayer, wisdom and courage. When God calls us to wait, we wait, but then we step forward boldly. When His Word, the Holy Spirit and wisdom makes that next step clear, we stop waiting for someday or a special occasion. We reach out to Him in the midst of the ordinary moments and choose to step forward with excellence, knowing that we will trust in the Lord with all of our heart and lean not on our own understanding, and he will make our paths straight, just like it says in Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.
Speaker 1:I don't know where you are right now. I don't know if you are in the middle of a season of waiting on the Lord or if you are feeling the nudge to take action and you feel stuck. What I do know is that there is a time for waiting and a time to take action. If it is time for you to take action, then decide right now to take that first step. Stop waiting for someday and choose to move forward right now.
Speaker 1:To close this episode, I would like to read a portion of one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm 37 includes a beautiful blend of both waiting on God and taking action in faith. So as you wrestle with the decisions and knowing when to wait and when to act, I pray you will find comfort and hope in these words Psalm 37, three through seven. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.