I am at my favorite Starbucks again and God is yet again speaking to me here. I don’t know what I would do without this place. While it is hard for me to justify spending the money on a drink so often, God always blesses my time here.
Tonight, my lesson from God is about time. Our entire lives revolve around time. (Especially our lives in the United States). We are a very time oriented society where everything has its place. We have a time when we get up, a time when we meet friends, a time for school, a time for family, a time to be alone, a time for work, and oh, and a time for God. (Can’t forget to schedule that one in). We think we are successful when we accomplish everything on our to-do list and if we get everywhere we need to be at the correct time.
But do you ever take a step back and think about the bigger picture? Do you ever try to step back and try to see your life as God sees it?
I am a very schedule oriented person. I thrive on creating schedules and following them. I like to write them out and organize them so I know I get everything done that I need to. I have been learning, though, that God’s idea of timing is SO much different than mine. God looks at my heart and says “Ok, how can I bring her from where she is and take her to where she needs to go in the best way possible? Which events in her life should I use to do that?”
Over and over again, I find myself in emotional places that I don’t understand. Times where I cry every day or times when I am experiencing culture shock in my own country/hometown (to those who have experienced this, you understand), times when I am always confused and times where I constantly feel like a failure. During these times it is hard for me to see the bigger picture. I am too focused on what is right in front of me that I forget to see that God’s timing is SO much bigger and better than my timing.
Today has been one of those days. Emotions were running all over the place and Satan was running with them away from God. I just didn’t feel happy and was confused as to why God had me in this time and place right now. Why I went from doing full time ministry for two years to having a few part time jobs and not much contact with people.
After babysitting an adorable 15-month-old girl this evening, I went to Starbucks. I started writing thank you notes to sponsors when this song came on my Pandora station. It’s called “Time” by Shawn McDonald.
Read these lyrics and think of Your Heavenly Father. This is what He thinks of Time.
There is a time to laugh
And a time to cry
And there is a time to accept
And a time to deny
There is a time to be strong
And a time to be weak
And there is a time to listen
And a time to speak
For everything there's a reason
For everything there's a rhyme
For everything there's a season
For everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
And there is a time to say hello
And a time to wave goodbye
And there is a time when we are born
And a time we must die
And there is a time to build up
And a time to tear down
There is a time to be lost
And a time to be found
Everything there's a reason
For everything there's a rhyme
For everything there's a season
For everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
One without the other
Is like a king without his kingdom
Everything works together
It all coincides
For everything there's a reason
For everything there's a rhyme
For everything there's a season
For everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
For everything, everything
Everything there's a time
God has a bigger plan than anyone of us can see. What we can see are the little events that happen every day that are part of His bigger plan. I challenge you to look at the events in your life today and try to see how God would see them. For everything there’s a reason, a rhyme, a season and a time.
