Lamentations 3:25-26 – The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (NIV)

This past summer, my brother, Jim, built us a large greenhouse. When he was finished, we all followed him inside the new structure to admire it. On either side of the doorway, he had fitted large plate glass windows which we had picked up years ago at a yard sale.

As we all stood inside chatting, my eighty-pound dog, Sophie, came running to see what was happening. Racing towards the greenhouse, she suddenly launched herself and leapt right through the plate glass, which hadn't been there that morning. Jim had taken pains to clean and polish the glass once he had installed it, which, unfortunately for Sophie, had made it invisible.

The whole episode occurred so quickly that everyone was momentarily stunned as she crashed to the ground surrounded by glass. Fortunately, however, when Jim had done the inside trim work to fasten the glass pane into place, he was short one strip, which meant that the window was held in place on only three sides, which allowed the glass, even though it broke, to spring out of place at the same time as Sophie hit it. Due to this fact, the glass flew away from her rather than into her, as it would have done if it had remained within its frame.

Discussing this horrifying episode later, we all kept coming back to the point that if the window had not been short one piece of stripping to hold it securely, Sophie's leap would have indeed had a very different ending. Though at the time, Jim had been annoyed that he could not complete the job, he was now overjoyed that only three sides had been fastened.

So often in life, I, too, have been annoyed at a certain circumstance or happening, and even ranted and raved to God about it. Yet in hindsight, my eyes have been opened to realize that there was a hidden reason — God's good reason — that things occurred or played out the way that they did.

How about you? Are you struggling with something that is annoying or puzzling because it hasn't all fallen into place the way that you had hoped or would have liked it to? If so, take a moment and thank God that He knows all about it, be it large or small. Then, take a deep breath, stay calm, and patiently carry on as He leads, trusting that in due time, it will all come together, just the way it should — His way.

Prayer: Father God, thank You that You know and care about all our circumstances and plans. Help us to trust You amidst all of them and to wait patiently for Your plan to unfold when things are not going the way that we want them to. In Jesus' name, we praise and thank You. Amen.

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About the author:

Lynne Phipps <lynnephippsatlin@gmail.com>
Tawatinaw, Alberta, Canada
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