Isn’t it funny? ironic? interesting? how some of the most amazing God-moments take place at the same time that our plans fall all to pieces? We tend to get so wrapped up in making our little life plans and daily schedules, checking them twice, and getting them fulfilled no matter what—sometimes whether we have to be naughty or nice ;o].
Meanwhile, there is always God with His much higher plans and ways that usually tend to escape the understanding of our finite minds. We have a tendency to be so focused on the physical here and now that too easily we miss all signs of the spiritual realm and what’s taking place there. Our “near-sightedness” usually causes us to see those God-ordained moments as frustrating inconveniences to our plans and schedules instead of holy ground in the presence of an overwhelming God.
I’ll share a couple of examples from my own life in the past couple of days and hope that they may encourage someone else to see GOD and His hand, sovereignty, and majesty in the broken pieces of the plans they may have made for their life.
On Saturday, my daughter was at the horse ranch most of the day getting a horse lesson and volunteering her help as needed. She called me late in the afternoon and said she was ready to be picked up. My husband and I went to go pick her up having our own plans to immediately run some errands afterwards. When we arrived she begged to be able to stay just a tad longer and help do the afternoon feeding of the many horses. Over 30 minutes later my husband and I were still sitting in the car waiting for her; so he went into the barn to check on her progress. He came back out telling me that somehow they had lost a pair of small scissors that they were using to cut the twine off the hay IN the hay that they had fed the horses. It turns out that
There were four adults (including Michael and I) and two teen girls (including
At this same time there was this conversation taking place between
Then this morning it happened again…
I had just began typing the first paragraph of this post (and had my plans of getting a lot typed before starting my day) when Michael came into the room to tell me that someone had egged the house and there was egg all over our porch, front window, and the stucco. …sigh…Can’t really concentrate on typing a spiritual story when there is egg drying harder and harder by the minute unto the outside of the house, and I have no idea how I’m getting it off. What a way to start the week, huh? I searched the internet for ideas and there were a couple of mentions of baking soda, vinegar, power washer, etc. I decided that the vinegar and baking soda sounded great because I recently discovered their combination is a stupendous (and cheap) fabric softener in the laundry. So why not try it on the egged porch area?
While I was hurrying to eat breakfast and feed the dogs so I could get out to clean, I was thinking how this was NOT what I had planned or wanted to do with my Monday morning—not at all. As feelings of great annoyance began to creep in, I also considered that if I looked for the God-moment in this morning I might just find it. I prepared all the necessary supplies and remembered to get my IPOD so I could listen to music while I worked; hoping that it would help me cope with the task at hand much better. I decided to listen to a Hillsong CD that I had not heard in quite some time. I had worn out all those songs a few years ago, playing the CD so often; plus, we had sung many of them at our old church and sometimes the memories of that time there are good and sometimes they are not so good. But today, God happened, again. As I scrubbed and scrubbed dried egg off of the porch area, the music brought me nearer to God. Before I knew it, I was worshipping Him passionately at the same time as I was scrubbing egg and getting baking soda and vinegar all over me. The breeze blew gently, the sky looked so beautiful in spite of the clouds here and there, and I sung to God and worshipped Him. My egg cleaning time turned into a time of utmost worship; of the kind that I haven’t had in quite a while. And believe it or not, I was filled with the utmost joy as I scrubbed and got all dirty. I was delighted to be out there scrubbing egg and having a special time worshipping the LORD! How funny is that?
But there is even more that I will go ahead and share…because for whatever His reasons are, today, God has granted that ordained moment (that I was waiting for) when I could sit here at the computer and type something of what I’ve learned as He teaches me. It is oh, so sweet when His peace that surpasses all understanding takes over in our lives. But it’s even sweeter when that peace also comes along with great understanding. It is so sweet when we can arrive at a moment in time where in regards to the past events or broken relationships that caused great anguish in our hearts we can now say, “Thank you, God, for that event or those things that occurred in my life, for without them I could not be who I am today. And I am beyond blessed and grateful to be here where you have me today.” I unmistakably saw this complete assurance in some things I said to a new friend recently: “I refuse to be bitter, resentful, angry, or hold it against them. They are completely forgiven; they were only tools of The Great Master in my life. I know that God blinded their eyes to the truth of my heart and that God hardened that person’s heart just like Pharaoh so that we could exit
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; a time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; a time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; a time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace…He has made everything beautiful in its time…”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-11)
Trusting implicitly in HIM and His timing…
I love hearing God-moment stories of how He works things together so impeccably.
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