In His Time

One of my very favorite Bible verses comes from Ecclesiastes.

"There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens." 

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Time is a funny thing, isn't it?  It's so fleeting.

When I first started this little blog, I had no idea what would come of it.  All I knew is that God had been working in my heart and helping me to cope with my seeming difficulty and hesitation for communicating emotions.  I keep things bottle up inside.  It's just who I am, who I've pretty much always been.  But God knew I needed a medium with which to express myself, and He gave me this little cyber space as my release.  Boy oh boy, has it been helpful.

At first, I struggled with what to write.  I struggled with what readers might want to hear, or what would keep them interested.  I, slowly but surely, allowed my posts to become more authentic and from my soul, rather than a journey into what I thought other people wanted to hear.  I'm bad about that.  I can be a people pleaser sometimes.

Like everything else in life, I seek to bring glory to my Heavenly Father through this little blog.  The more I pondered on what to write and the more open I became to sharing my innermost thoughts, the more God spoke to my heart about what I should share.  Lo and behold, just a few short months in and I'm blessed with a little following of readers.  For each of you, I am so thankful.  I believe there is a reason you're here.

You see, I believe God's timing is perfect.  Isn't it just incredible to know that God has an entire plan for your life and mine?  Each and every second of your every single day, God has already planned out.  For each and every one of us, God has a divine purpose.  He desires to use our lives to glorify His kingdom and, if you're willing, He will use your life in ways you never could've fathomed.  But you have to be patient.  God's timing and our timing are rarely coexistent.

One thing I most like realizing is how God works through the good AND the bad moments in my life.  He tends to use moments where I feel hurt or betrayed or let down, and He brings me right back to His feet.  Just like a shepherd herding his sheep, he always brings me right back.

A sweet friend shared a little snippet from her devotional last night, and it hit home with me.  It discussed how we, as women, desire unfailing love.  Did you know that unfailing love is mentioned thirty-two times in the Bible?  Yep, that's right...  Thirty-two times.  Not one single time is that reference attributed to a person.  Nope.  It's attributed to God, each and every single time.  Just as the devotion claims, I believe that God put a desire for unfailing love in our hearts so that we'd continually be brought back to Him.  Until God's love is enough, nothing else will be.

That's the funny thing about time.  It's not ours to allocate or save or use up.  Time doesn't belong to us.  If we're running low on time, we can't just go buy a little prepaid card at Walmart and use it as we so wish.  Unlike our bank accounts, we can't just log online and figure out our time balance.  Time is God's.  My time, your time...  It belongs to God.  And He has a perfect plan for your life and how your time will be spent.  The key to that is trusting Him with your time. 

In the past, I'd often find myself fervent in prayer over what now seems like some of the silliest, most insignificant things.   Mostly, I'd be praying to God politely asking Him to 'hurry it on up.'  Whether that be my dream career or a husband or some material desire.  I was always expecting God to work in my time. 

It wasn't until I gave that up and told God that I was willing to follow whatever HIS timeline was, that I began to fully enjoy all life had to offer.  Now, when my own personal timelines pass and God reveals a plan bigger and better than my own, the joke's on me.

If you're struggling with your life's plan {or even the lack thereof}, just give it over to God.  That burden is MUCH lighter for Him than it is for you.  Fully commit to faithfully following God's will for your life, and that stress will be gone quicker than you'll believe. 

I've learned through this whole process that my life isn't the only one directly affected by me choosing to follow God's plan for my life.  Take this blog for instance.  God impresses these messages on my heart.  If I faithfully obey and there is just one of you out there whose life is touched by that message, then isn't that something?   How about relationships and marriage?  If I try to rush into a relationship that I know isn't of God, I could likely miss out on the man God made just for me.  That doesn't just affect me, but it affects him too.

Be patient in affliction.  Be fervent in prayer.  Enjoy each and every season in your live, and live it to the fullest.  Let God take the lead as the potter and allow yourself to be the clay.  God wants nothing but the very best for each and every one of us.  He has plans that far exceed our very own. 

Isn't it humbling to acknowledge that, right this very moment, you are exactly where God intended for you to be?  That's so powerful to me!  We sit around worrying about how we haven't accomplished certain things or reached certain milestones, yet God has us exactly where He wants us.

Enjoying the journey as the passenger with God at the wheel has been the most exciting facet of my life thus far.  It has relieved so much stress and worry and has taken the guess work out of everything I do.  I'm no longer in a hurry or stir crazy to get things done, but I enjoy living each day of my life glorifying God's kingdom to the very best of my ability while He continually unravels His will for my life.

Strive to live your life as the puppet.  Soak in each and every moment of your life, and let God worry about the rest.  To me, that seems like a no-brainer move! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.