God's Timing

I HATE being late... I would rather be 1.5 hours early than 1.5 minutes late. I am one of those people who sets my clocks ahead to build in extra time. If I am meeting someone and they are late, it takes me about 2 minutes before I wonder if I got the wrong time, the wrong date or the wrong location. It stresses me out. I love it when people call as they are leaving to confirm, that way I know that when to expect them so that I can be ready. I much prefer it when people are early that way I know that we can arrive on time with no stress. There are people in my life I expect to be late, some I expect to be early and then there is God.

He always is right on time.... I am not going to lie to you..... it stresses me out! I once heard a speaker (I think Terri Bone) say that "God is never late, but He doesn't take many opportunities to be early!"

Wouldn't it be so much better if God was a "10th hour" God instead of an 11th hour God?? Wouldn't it be nice if he called ahead to let you know when He was leaving so that you could be ready when He arrived???

Or would it??

Sometimes it seems as though we can see the answer coming.. sometimes like nosy kids at Christmas we look for clues (a bag from a store that has what we want, or catalogues with our deepest desires nicely cirlced!) that might give us some insight about what God has in store for us.

This is especially true in the romantic world. For someone who is single, there is a hyper-diligence about when 'the one' will make his appearance, and so we become experts at reading the landscape and watching for changes to signify a new season in our lives has begun.

A few months ago the Lord gave me direction for this next stage of my life. In January, the sense I got was that the next year would be a time of preparation-for what I don't know- much like Esther spent a year preparing herself to be the king's wife. I did not take that to literally mean that 365 day from that moment I would be a wife, merely that God was preparing me for the beginning of something new. There is nothing in me that would want to take away from the amazing sweetness of the relatonship with God that has come out of this time. I really am in no rush....

And then the rain came today!

What is it about the rain that can cause us to be wistful? To lose sight of all the good things in life? Suddenly, all the plans, all the assurances, and all the peace got washed away in the rain (it probably didn't help that I watched a WWI movie about a pilot who falls in love with a french maid) and I was back to wishing, and hoping, and feeling empty.

In the wake of meeting Mike Fisher, there were many comments made by women I love and respect about God's timing for MY great guy, and some were saying that they 'feel like it is just around the corner'. Nothing sets a single girl's heart a twitter like hearing those sweet, sweet words! The problem is that amazing, loving, Godly women have been saying this to me for about 8 years!!! The word says "a day is like a thousand years" to God... I am almost afraid of how "around the corner" translates.

It would be helpful to remind myself of all the moments where God came through at just the right time. To recall that moment of sweet relief when someone you were expecting walks through the door. He has never, ever let me down....

Tomorrow I will remember that... today though, in the rain, life gets a little messy andI feel the emptiness acutely.