To God Be The Glory!

I had to give a presentation today at a conference, and I hadn’t been given much time to prepare for it. I was working with someone else, and we both said when we heard that we had been scheduled to do it, “To God be the glory!” And He certainly showed His glory. We worked so smoothly together you would have thought we worked together all the time, and we had fun and the people who were participating in the workshop had fun, and we got great feedback about the work that we’d done. I didn’t have time to write a post for today until now, but that’s ok too – to God be the glory and to His perfect timing too.

There are times when we have all of our plans and wants and desires and we feel so ready for them to happen, but sometimes God has other things planned that need to happen in order for all of the things that He is planning to fulfill in our lives to come to pass in the way He knows is perfect. God doesn’t like to do things in a half-baked sort of way – He likes to make His pies and caseroles as delicious and perfect as possible, with no gooey centers unless they’re supposed to be gooey, and no undercooked things that will give you an upset stomach, or worse, make you really sick so you can’t ever enjoy that food again. He’s a God of perfect timing and perfection in everything He does, and though we may find ourselves wondering what the holdup is, when the promises we’ve been waiting for finally arrive, we’re always blown away by the amazing greatness of His perfect plan and perfect timing.

I’ve been so tired the past few days – I got so little sleep on Monday and Tuesday nights that right now I’m running on steam. But while I was doing the things that I needed to do I didn’t feel tired at all and I felt completely focused and calm and serene. That’s one of the most beautiful things that God does – He gives us His strength when we need it, and His Spirit will fill us and work through us so that we’re not doing any work at all. We do have to show up, and it’s not like we’re zombies – we’re an active part of the process, but He’s the one who is giving us the strength and ability to do what we need to do.

Isaiah 40:29-31 reads, “He gives power to the weak, and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” That’s the New Living Translation, and some others use the phrase “wait on the Lord” instead of trust. I like the idea of both of them, because when we trust Him we are able to wait, we are able to be patient with His timing and have peace while we wait.

God is the one who gives us faith, and He gives us strength and patience and the ability to trust and to wait for His timing. All we have to do is ask, and He will gladly give these things to us. He understands that it’s hard for us to walk by faith, and He’ll help us every step of the way, guiding us, teaching us, encouraging us and loving us. He will never let us down, and He will always lift us up.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan