God’s Perfect Interventions
Last week I received a comment on our blog from my aunt. She had said that about the time that we were in the tornado, she was trying to tell me about these devotionals by Charles Stanley. She said that God was maybe trying to tell her to pray for us, but she was determined to tell us about these devotionals – I think she was meant to tell us about these devotionals. God had us in His hand during that tornado. This past weekend I finally had the chance to take a look at the devotionals. The whole month is about waiting on the Lord. She thought that they might be meaningful to us and boy was she right! This is just another testimony of how God is using other people in our life to influence us. It is so beautiful to see God working through the body of Christ (she just so happens to be my aunt too :)). Honestly though, we are humbled that God would place us on her heart and that she would answer the call to tell us about them. I was so inspired by them that I ended up signing up for the magazine. If you want, check out the link at http://www.intouch.org/. Go under magazine and then daily devotionals.
I thought I would check out the devotional that was written for Friday, March 2. Here is what it said:
Waiting For God To Intervene
Are you currently waiting for the Lord to intervene in some way in your life or in the life of a loved one? One of the struggles we face as Christians is trying to understand why our heavenly Father sometimes delays over matters that are so urgent to us. Only the Lord knows all the reasons. However, there are several adjustments we can make in our attitude and mindset as we wait.
Determine your focus. In the urgency of the moment, it’s easy to center our attention on the need instead of on God. We may start out waiting for the Lord but end up waiting for the answer we want. Soon we’re more interested in what He can do for us than we are in Him. Sometimes God delays until we get our focus back on Him. He wants us to delight in Him, not just in what He gives us.
Release your expectations into His hands. The Lord is working on our behalf, but sometimes we cling so tightly to a desired outcome that He must wait until we open our hands and let go of our expectations. Holding onto your own assumptions about how the Lord should intervene is emotionally exhausting. But peace awaits those who trust that He will do what is in our best interests–in every situation we encounter.
We need to remember that while we are waiting, God is working. He sees the entire picture and is active behind the scenes, arranging everything according to His will. But perhaps His most important work is the deepening of our relationship with Him as we learn to love and trust Him in the wait.
Don’t know about you, but to me this is NOT a coincidence – this is God’s perfect design. I look at what happened March 2 and read the last paragraph and thought “wow, I am so thankful we serve THE Sovereign King!” There have been too many “waiting” opportunities in our life lately I feel like. But again I am whacked on the backside of my head by God :). He DOES see the entire picture – of what our life will look like tomorrow and in 2 years. He is active, behind the scenes arranging everything perfectly. Sometimes I don’t always feel that way, but He is. But truly in ALL of this, our relationship with God truly has deepened. I think about some of the conversations Dan and I have had over the past few months and God has surely been changing us. It’s kind of scary to think about how much we are changing, but God is doing the prep work for what is to come in life – whatever that may look like.
So we sit here in the lull – a lull that has not been easy. Yes I would love to just have a baby to hold in my arms. But by saying that, I am focusing on what God can do for me – not on Him. God has worked in TREMENDOUS ways through this lull and has given us opportunities we NEVER imagined. So as we sit and wait, I am confident that what feels like a “delay” will be seen as perfect in the end.
