I don’t know about you, but this has been a rough week for me.  The elections aside (and yes, I am so glad they are in the rearview mirror), the week just didn’t go as I had planned. Primarily,  I’ve been “confined” for the past three days with a bad cold.  Let’s just say that I am not a good patient.  I don’t like being sick, and I especially don’t like having my plans thwarted.  (Ex:  I’m writing this blog from my couch instead of attending worship this morning.)  But, in the end, good has once again come out of what I perceived as a bad situation.

Those who know me well can attest to the fact that I love to be on the go.  I fill my days with breakfasts with friends, grocery shopping, appointments, Bible studies, lunches with family, banking, BJ’s runs, meal prep, visits with the parents, etc.  I don’t allow much room in my schedule for down time.  And, it would seem, every time my schedule gets a bit too frenzied (which is actually how I like it) God, in His infinite wisdom, throws up a stop sign.  Those stop signs most often come in the form of injuries and illnesses that require rest for healing.  Now, I know what you’re thinking:  God hurts me to quiet me?  No, but He ALLOWS those things in my life to slow me down.  (And quite honestly, sometimes I unwittingly bring them on myself.)

In retrospect, this week’s illness actually came at an ideal time.  Sounds crazy, I know.  But it’s true.  I realize now that I’d been pushing myself too hard.  In September, I began working as a beta-tester for a friend who was starting an on-line personal training business.  When I say “working” I mean that literally, because I took a very hardline approach to my new fitness regime.  No missed workouts, no excuses, and always trying to do more than required.  I was determined to be my friend’s biggest success story.  This dedication (or obsession as Jeff calls it) was a bit over the top, and it ended up backfiring.  My weight loss slowed as I overtaxed my body on a limited supply of calories.  I was losing inches, which was good, but the scale stubbornly refused to go below a certain point for over three weeks, which had me majorly frustrated.  Then I got sick.  Two days on the couch and the scale showed an improbable drop.  What?  Yep, rest and recovery equaled weight loss.  (Can I just say that my trainer tried to tell me this?)  And I wonder how my boys ended up being so bullheaded?

But that was the least of what God is showing me.  Foremost, I had time to sit and work on my Bible study.  While on vacation, I got behind in my Beth Moore homework.  (Yes, my cousin Janice and I really did ride our bikes up and down the entire 8 mile-long island, in addition to watching the sun rise on our beach walks every morning.  It was lovely, but exhausting.  I needed to rest after our “vacation,” which indeed was, as defined, “an extended period of recreation.”) Anyway, I wasn’t troubled about getting behind.  I knew I would get the assignments finished, and be ready for our next video lesson.  Or so I thought.  Coming home from 10 days away entails a whole lot more than catching up on my homework assignments.  After another 10 days of frenzied activity, my overtaxed body shut down and I got sick.

Which brings me to how God’s timing is always perfect.  I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head yesterday as I sat working through another of my missed assignments.  This particular lesson, entitled “A Painful Deliverance,” would have meant so much less to me while on vacation.  But after this week (and yes, the election), it was fraught with imperatives that I needed to hear:  First, our feelings and perceptions cannot be the basis of our faith.  Our feelings will deceive us because they are based on what we can see.  And truly, we can’t see the “big picture.”  Only God can.  So we need to trust Him to know what’s best.  Second, faith comes from listening!  But how can I listen to God when I’m always on the go?  The Word of God is always true and God always keeps His promises.  But if I’m not taking the time to be in God’s Word and know His promises, they offer no assurance to me.  Third, God’s deliverance may come from “this ship running aground.”  This was true for Paul in Acts 27, and it’s true for me today.  Heavy winds and raging seas do not always mean I’m on the wrong course.  Sometimes I run aground on the island of God’s will because He couldn’t get me there any other way!  (Think illness and couch, or a painful election.)  And finally, God always has a destination in mind, a place where, once I have been faithful to who He is, He will show me what He can do.  The waters may be rough, and I may have to toss a few things overboard to keep from sinking (i.e. an overloaded schedule or my perception of our new president-elect), but I can believe God WILL deliver me, even in the midst of “Plan B.”  When I release God from my preconceived notions of what I think He should do, my eyes are opened.  All it takes to behold a miracle is to see God do something only He can do!  And don’t we see that all the time if we’re looking?

So, all of that to say, we CAN have peace in troubled times because GOD IS IN CONTROL.  Not only in the lives of His children, but in the future of our nation. God uses flawed individuals to fulfill His plan.  And, after all, we’re all flawed.  But as Homer said “I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”  Amen.

(Items in italics are direct quotes from Beth Moore’s study “Living Beyond Yourself.”)

Today I am at home with a cold.  It attacked quickly and has confined me to my recliner, covered in a cozy throw made by Mom.  (I stole it from Joshua because he is always stealing mine!)  But, I digress.  I’m home today, not of my choosing, but because I don’t want to spread my germs around.  I also would like to get rid of this malady as quickly as it arrived.  One minute I was fine, the next my throat was aching, and I was sneezing and coughing.

But enough of the details of my illness.  Let’s talk about sick days.  As a kid, I hated them.  They always manifested at absolutely the worst time.  I can’t tell you how many field trips and class parties I missed because I always managed to get sick.  As an adult, sick days are even more inconvenient.  Take today for example.  This morning was the final session of the Bible study that I’ve been attending with a friend.  The FINAL session!!  Can you sense my frustration?  My first inclination was to go anyway.  Common sense eventually won the tug of war and here I am at home.  (Coughing and sneezing my way through Beth Moore’s video was probably not my best idea.)

After messaging my friend of the situation, I settled in to work on some lessons from our study that I missed while on vacation recently.  The attached pic shows my view.  Everything I need within arms reach.  Most importantly, my Bible, my study guide, and my hot tea.  Let me just interject that, as an adult, I’ve found that God usually puts my butt on the recliner when He has better plans for me than I have for myself.  He slows me down so I can rest and sit quietly long enough to hear Him.  He’s shown me over and over again that His timing is perfect, and I might as well not argue.  (Who me? Lol…)

Anyway, God (through Beth Moore) showed me something this morning that I’d like to share with you:  Trusting God is not about getting the results I want, it’s about believing that He is good and will bring about what’s best in His time.  Did you see that?  Not what I want, but what He wants!  Not in my time, but in His time!  We all have circumstances in our lives that we want God to fix.  We pray earnestly, knowing He can fix them.  What happens when He doesn’t?  When the friend with cancer dies?  When the job doesn’t come through?  When the relationship isn’t reconciled?  What then?

I’ve learned there are two kinds of faith:  1. Faith that believes in what God can do and 2. Faith based on who God is.  The first kind of faith says “I trust God as long as He does what I ask.”  This kind of faith depends on results.  The problem with this type of faith is that we can’t see things from God’s perspective.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says that “God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.”  Since we can’t possibly see the bigger picture, we don’t know what is best for us or for our future. But God already knows what’s down the road and, many times, He is trying to save us from future heartache by not giving us what we think we want or need.  This type of faith is also fear-based.  We don’t trust God enough to let Him be in charge.

The second type of faith is what God desires from us.  He wants us to WANT a relationship with Him.  He wants us to TRUST Him with all our fears, all our hopes, all our dreams.  And He’s big enough to handle it all!  He loves us and He wants what’s best for us — He KNOWS what’s best for us.  And when we can fully surrender to Him and walk WITH Him in faith and trust, He will give us His dreams and His desires, and they are WAY better than anything we can fathom: “…immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine!”  I have found this to be true so many times in my life, that you’d think I’d be walking with Him in perfect trust.  But, in my humanness, I continue to chafe at His “No” or “Wait” and argue for my own way.  Lovingly, He waits and waits, until I’m ready to say “Okay, not my will but Yours be done.”  And then, AND THEN, comes JOY!

I heard a new song on election day.  I was on my way to meet my cousin for breakfast, and I was listening to Word.FM.  An unfamiliar song came on and as I listened I couldn’t help but smile at God’s timing.  I so needed to hear this song right then, at that very moment.  Angst over that day’s election was overwhelming.  But the chorus struck at the heart of the matter:  “How could I make you so small, When you’re the one who holds it all, When did I forget that you’ve always been the King of the world?” (from King of the World by Natalie Grant)  How DID I forget?  He is the King and He IS in CONTROL!  I don’t have to be afraid of what tomorrow brings.  All I have to do is trust Him and rest in His loving arms.  Yes, even today when I’m sick — especially today when I’m sick — He wants me to rest and just trust Him — THE KING OF THE WORLD!