This past Sunday was a special day of celebration for my family. My little brother recently accepted Jesus into his heart, and yesterday he was baptized at church. I’ll begin by giving you a little background into why Sunday was such a special day and how God’s timing is always perfect. For the past three years my little brother has been running from the Lord, and as a result he fell into Satan’s temptations and got into trouble. There were weeks when I felt my family had lost all hope in him, and there were even weeks that I almost did as well. At one point his actions hurt my family so badly that I began to hate the person he had become. I did not show him the type of love that I should have. I began to judge him, and didn’t even realize it because I was blinded by my anger. All I saw was his hurtful actions and this was ruining my relationship with him. I wasn’t giving the situation to the Lord. Instead, I was taking on my feelings of hurt and shame myself. I was judging him and not showing him any mercy. In a sense, I was giving up on him.
One day when I was reading my devotional, God spoke to me saying,“ My child, who are you to judge? Why are you not showing your little brother love, as I have always shown you? Why do you have so little faith?” As I write this blog, I can’t help but cry. I not only was giving up on my little brother, but I was beginning to believe that my prayers weren’t being heard and that God wasn’t working in his heart. God reminded me that I was incapable to love my little brother on my OWN, no matter how hard I tried. I broke down on my knees that day and asked God and my little brother for forgiveness. Even though my little brother was still lost at the time, God reminded me NOT TO LOSE FAITH because He was working in his heart. Through Christ, I could now show my brother love again. As Beth Moore says, “Agape is the love of God expressed through us to others. It is more than a feeling; it is a response.”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily ANGERED, it KEEPS NO RECORD of WRONGS. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. LOVE NEVER FAILS.” (1 Corinthians13:4-8)
Gods timing was not only perfect, but humbling. The day my brother accepted God’s calling, he came to me and asked if I would lead him through the prayer of salvation. The experience was humbling because even though I had lacked faith and trust in God working in his life, God showed me forgiveness by allowing me to share the experience with him. Sometimes when we are going through a crisis in life we can get to the point where we feel like our prayers aren’t being heard. We hear from fellow believers that God has a purpose in his t
iming and read in God’s word that He is never too late, yet we are inpatient and don’t want to hear those answers. God has His reasons for His timing. Perhaps God is teaching us about prayer, prolonging our needs to accomplish something greater than we could ever imagine, or maybe God is working in the life of someone else involved in our situation. I pray fellow readers that you will never lose faith in God’s timing. If you are waiting for God’s answers, I hope you trust that you will see God’s perfect plan in the end. God never stopped working in my little brother’s heart, and I’m so thankful for that day where He reminded me to be patient and continue to pray because His timing is perfect! And now heaven is celebrating the addition of a new angel!
