Some Lessons Learned

It's been a few months since I posted anything.  I suppose part of the reason relates to the busyness of summer and how quickly the time has flown by.  (What ever happened to the "lazy days of summer"??)  Or that having skipped a few days of posting, I got out of the habit and then a few days became a few weeks....... Or maybe I just wasn't ready to give words to all the lessons I have been learning.  Lessons about patience.  And about contentment.  And about waiting. And about control. These are some of the areas in which God has been dealing with me over the last few months.

I have one of those perpetual calendars in my kitchen window.  One of the ones that has a different page for each day.  This morning as I flipped the page over to today's date, this is what I read......"I waited patiently for the Lord........"  Oh my.  Talk about conviction first thing in the morning!  And I hadn't even had my coffee yet!  So here's my first confession of the day.  I have not been waiting very patiently. 

For the last couple of days I have had Mary, Martha and Lazarus on my mind.  You know, the brother and two sisters who lived in Bethany and were friends of Jesus.  You can read about them in John chapter 11.  As the chapter opens, we learn that Lazarus is sick.  The sisters sent word to Jesus and asked Him to come.  But He didn't......at least, not right away.  And so Lazarus died.  You can read the full account in John 11 if you aren't familiar with the story or if you need to refresh your memory.

The important point here - at least as it concerns what God has been teaching me this summer - is that Jesus didn't come right away.  Why not, you may be asking.  Verse 3 tells us that it was for the glory of God.   Hmmm.  As I think about my own life, and the delays in getting answers to the questions I'm asking and resolution to the situations that concern me, I think there's a lesson there for me to grab hold of.  It's all for the glory of God.  It's not about me!  Which leads me to the book of Romans......."and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose."  (Romans 8:28 NASB, emphasis mine).

Here's the bottom line.  I am learning, in my time in the "waiting room", that God has a plan.  That it's His plan, not mine, that matters.  That He hasn't forgotten me or abandoned me.  That His timing is perfect.  And I'm learning to trust.  And to wait patiently. (I'm still a work in progress on that one!) Those are hard lessons for a control freak!  But lessons that need learning!

One of my favorite songs captures this thought so well.  It's a song titled "Four Days Late", sung by Karen Peck and New River.  If you're not a fan of Southern Gospel music, you might not be familiar with it.  No  matter what your preferred style of music is, this is a song worth checking out.  It's a song about Lazarus, Mary and Martha....and Jesus!  Here's my favorite part:

"But His way is God's way; it's not yours or mine.  And isn't it great, when He's four days late, He's still on time!"