December 18, 2018: God's timing is not our timing, but it is always perfect!

We tend to become impatient (at least I do; I think I'm not alone) when God doesn't work things out on our schedule. His solutions to our issues are, however, often far more perfect than anything we could have imagined or asked for; these things take time to work out.

I have to remember also that God has a different point of view than I do regarding time. I live within it; He exists outside of it. "Before Abraham was, I am!" (John 8:58) He sees the end, when all things have worked out; I don't.

Let's say, for example, you have a loved one in the hospital. You think "God, you can just say the word, and my loved one can be healed and home with me. Why won't you do that, God?"

You're right, God could do that. What you don't see are all the other things God accomplishes in what is to us a slow, measured process of healing and recovery. God can use these times, these pauses in the flow of life, to teach us things we couldn't learn any other way. During your time of waiting, what is He trying to teach you? What is He teaching your loved one? Could he be using the situation to bring a much-needed blessing to the patient in the next room, or to the nurse tending these patients?

One of my frequent prayers is that God will grant me the grace and wisdom to learn whatever He wants to teach me the first time the lesson is presented. I've found (the hard way!) that when I don't learn God's lesson the first time around, He is patient with me; He will repeat the lesson, again and again if necessary. The problem for me is that each repetition becomes more and more painful!

May we all learn His lessons the first time around!!