Have you ever made plans time after time with the same friend, that somehow always seem to fall apart? Not necessarily anyone’s fault….. It’s just that every single time you try to get together to catch up, something comes up, and one or both of you have to cancel? It happens every single time – almost to the point that it feels like there’s a conspiracy going on?
But then, when spur of the moment you decide to call and see what that same friend is doing right now…. you somehow always manage to get together? Sometimes, the best visits are the unplanned ones, the last minute ones, the ones you’re most unprepared for. For some reason, they just somehow seem to be the best ones of all.
Does this ever happen to you?
This morning I had a list of things to do – appointments to make, calls to follow up on, a budget to adjust, laundry to finish…… you get the picture.
One of my closest friends called – the friend that knows the details of my life like a sister. We talked a long time. Cried some too. We spoke of some plans – plans to finish the to-do list and shut the phone down. Sit at the table. Write down some Scriptural Truths. Wait for God to speak. (He ALWAYS speaks when you read His Words).
So I finished my to-do list. I put everything I needed at my favorite place at the table. I made coffee. I picked my favorite pen and paper – the new, pretty pack of paper I just purchased.
And then I decided to go to the grocery store 😉 I’m like that. Call it “flight of ideas” or whatever you want……
Off I went. Got the grocery shopping done, stopped at the bank, got the car washed, and then all of a sudden my car sounded like it was going to blow up, and I wound up back at the mechanic for the 2nd day in a row. Argh.
I sat there, heard a couple of conversations totally unexpected……. They had nothing to do with me, yet everything to do with me…….
And vwala!
Oh, I still came home, sat at the table, drank my coffee, wrote out the scriptures……..
But God didn’t need me to set the table, or get out my new pretty paper and pen in order to speak to me. He doesn’t need to get the right invite at the right time in order to show up. He doesn’t suddenly have things come up that cause Him to cancel plans, or need me to check my calendar and tell Him when I’m available. It’s ALWAYS a good time for Him.
I’m just so regimented sometimes, ya know? I think I need to get my to-do list done and have the table set before I can speak to God about the most important things in my life. Tell Him how He should take care of this and that – at 5 o’clock, because that’s a good time for me.
But the Truth is, He’s so busy working out the details of our growth (that’s what it is, after all) while we’re washing dishes and grocery shopping…. We don’t even realize it.
Like I said – sometimes, the best visits are the unplanned ones, the last minute ones, the ones you’re most unprepared for. They always seem to end up being the very best visits of all.
God is good. All the time.
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 ESV
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