The picture above is where I thought I’d be on January 1st— Hawaii. The beaches of Hawaii, to be exact. Visiting our daughter.
On December 31st, we had airline tickets and reservations at a beachfront bungalow. God had other plans.
SO many plans I didn’t expect (or want).
Plans that included sickness (fortunately not serious sickness) and canceled reservations.
Plans that made me cry into my coffee.
A dear friend rushed over to comfort me, and her kindness made me cry some more. Like only best friends can.
Another friend rushed over with a peppermint milkshake from Chick-fil-A and a super-sized bag of Godiva dark chocolate truffles. Like only best friends know to do.
Have your plans been changed in ways you didn’t expect or want? I’ve got words of encouragement for you. Two words actually — even though.
Even Though
Even though our best-laid plans may never get off the ground, we can trust that God is doing a great work. An important work.
He used His prophet Jeremiah and the disciple Peter through my daily Bible reading to teach me this truth and prepare me for my disappointment.
You may know Jeremiah as the “weeping prophet.” He had plenty to weep about. Way more than a canceled trip. He and the nation of Judah faced judgment at the hands of the terrifying Babylonians.
God’s people had brought this upon themselves with their unrelenting rebellion. And now Nebuchadnezzar was coming to haul them off to Babylon.
Surprisingly, God instructed His people to surrender and go willingly into captivity. If they didn’t fight, Jeremiah prophesied, they’d live, but if they defended Jerusalem and the temple, they’d die.
Such a plan made no sense to them. It doesn’t to us, either. When bad things come, we fight because bad is bad, right?
Well, yes, bad is bad, and there is a time when it’s right to fight, but bad can’t change eternal truth.
God is not scrambling and reacting to the circumstances. He’s always at work accomplishing His glorious purposes, which He set down in eternity past.
God had an intentional purpose for Judah’s captivity, so He sent Babylon to conquer Judah.
God also has an intentional purpose for our situation.
I’m not comparing our Hawaii trip to Judah’s captivity. They’re as dissimilar as good and evil, but our plans didn’t get canceled outside of God’s will (Lamentations 3:37, Proverbs 16:9, 19:21).
Why do we think God is limited to working only in the good? Remember the cross?
God can and does use all things to accomplish His purposes. Even the bad—especially for those who trust in Him.
He Will Lift Us Up
As we trust in the Lord, He moves our hearts to embrace His purposes and plans. One of which is to lift His children up. Always. And at the right time.
Jeremiah prophesied that if God’s people would humble themselves and trust in Him, they would live. And at the right time, He’d restore His people and judge Babylon.
Peter declared the same truth for Christians. When we humble ourselves before God and accept whatever He sends or allows, at the proper time, He will lift us up.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. — 1 Peter 5:6
It’s Your Time to Fly
I awoke on New Year’s Day to an alert from Delta reminding me it was time to board my plane for the first leg of our journey to Hawaii.
We were not on that plane.
We were in bed. Sigh.
Normally, this would’ve set off a fresh flood of tears. But not this time.
My heart felt strangely light and free from discouragement.
I can’t take credit for this. It was the power of God’s Word at work in my heart.
Since the moment we had to cancel our trip, I began recalling the stream of examples I’ve witnessed in Scripture of how God intentionally allowed—and even caused—His people to suffer. For good. Not evil.
I discussed with my friends over coffee and milkshakes God’s faithfulness to His character and His ways. No sickness could change who He is or what He does for those who wait on Him (Lamentations 3:25).
In the past, I tended to see only the suffering and missed God and His purposes.
On this day, I laser-focused on God and His purposes—one of which is that the world would know He’s everything He says He is. And that His people would believe this and let it direct every aspect of our lives.
Would I?
Will We?
Will our response to even the deepest disappointments derive out of who God is, not out of what’s happened to us or to those we love?
Or will we focus on ourselves or our pain and let disappointment leave us in tears and despair?
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. Lamentations 3:25
Wisdom seems to favor trusting in God and His character.
I’m not saying it’s easy when our hearts are crushed. But God knows and cares about your pain.
It’s God’s compassion and steadfast love that caused Him to prepare the cross of Christ before He even prepared the world for us to inhabit. We can trust Him.
Happy New Year . . . Even Though
God doesn’t owe my husband and me a trip to Hawaii. He doesn’t owe any of us anything.
But we’re ready to fly—or stay home—if He sends us—or not—because this we do know: God causes all things to work together for the good of His children (Romans 8:28).
And, “the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11).
I see no reason why Larry and I won’t be able to go see our daughter later but come what may, we’re determined to embrace His will.
We’re not totally unselfish. God’s will is always for our good.
If we can’t go, I’ll shed a bucket of tears because I love my daughter and long to see her. It hurts like crazy not getting to see her more than about once a year, but I can trust in God’s unchanging character. He’s always good.
“Though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love” Lamentations 3:32.
He gathers our tears and comforts the broken-hearted. He sees the glorious end from the beginning and teaches us to trust Him for what we can’t see.
In all things, God is doing a great work that will result in His glory. And seeing even a glimmer of His glory is always good for those who trust in Him.
Even though I’m sitting on my sofa in Lexington with my cat instead of on the beaches of Hawaii with my daughter, it’s a Happy New Year!
Because God is our good and glorious God.
Can I get an Amen?
And an Aloha?
