“He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

I love the picture this verse creates.  This is such a wonderful promise!  Lorraine Hill uses this scripture to demonstrate that God’s plan is always best and we must remember that it often unfolds over time.  As for me, I apply this the the growth I see in myself.  Sometimes our beautiful, redeemed lives can be a little ugly.  There are days we offer our worst to those we love best.  And, sometimes I begin the day in hopes that I will bring glory to the Lord by my actions, but my thoughts and my words go the other way….O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether (Ps 139:1-4).  He knows us so well, better than anyone else, and yet still He loves us.  That is the acceptance we all long for and the comfort we all need.  See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1a).  He accepts us, yes. But He does not leave us as we are – He lovingly shapes us into who He created us to be, over time.  For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried…we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance. (Ps 66:10, 12).  He has refined me so much already.  And yet I see, as we journey together around the next bend, how much farther there is to go.

Thankfully, the Lord will not quit on us.  He will not give up on us.  We may grow weary with the disappointments in life, even with His plan for us.  We may grow weary with unmet expectations and with difficulties and conflicts and with the waiting for things to “turn around”.  But He does not.  The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Is 40:28-31).  Waiting on the Lord with the assurance that He is good and does good, creates peace amidst chaos, comfort during disappointment, and yes, even JOY during trials.

JustaGirl…just like you!