{Everything Beautiful}

"It will come as quickly as the wind."

It is actually starting to feel like fall outside here in Georgia, Praise the Lord. I got to wear a scarf and drink a hot drink from Starbucks all in the same day; it was glorious! There defiantly was not a shortage on wind today that’s for sure. This morning as I sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee, and checking all things social network-- all I could see from the window in front of me was the wind blowing trees around like they were nothing more than blades of grass. But, the wind wasn’t consistent. It would just come in really big gusts, and that’s when the words…“It will come as quickly as the wind” blew into my mind.

Last week ,I guess it was, I finished up a book I had been reading for my quiet time called "No Other Gods." What I read on one of the days could not have hit the nail on the head any harder; it spoke exactly to what I was dealing with that day, and the condtion a particular situation that was very much out of my control, had my heart in. I knew it was the Lord reminding me ,once again, to not get impatient and give into the temptation to try and make things happen on 'my' timetable, but to wait and trust in Him. That particular day my heart defiantly needed some tending to and encouragement to wait upon the Lord, and the Spirit did not fail in providing it. I would like to just share with you some of what I read that morning:

“Wrapped up in the foundational concepts of obedience and disciple is the beauty of surrender. It’s the safest, scariest thing we can ever do, relinquishing ourselves and laying down our right, wills, and dreams before our Redeemer. I have surrendered much at the feet of his supremacy, yet in God’s mysterious economy he always restores more than I have ever given up in the first place.


I frequently have to offer up my flesh—those raw self-centered longings that stand in contrast to the liberating lead of the Spirit. As I read the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael, I never cease to be reminded of the pain and destruction I can cause by my own hands. Though their story is ancient, its principles are maddeningly modern: God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son who would lead to many nations and kings. However, as is so often the case with God’s promises, the circumstances stood defiant—they were both extremely old, and Sarah remained barren as night after night set one upon the other.


You can almost hear their desperate words to one another: What about the covenant? What about the promised son? What about all those kings and nations that are to follow? Are we sure we heard God right? Time is running out! History hangs in the balance! Redemption is at stake! Our womb is shut! God needs our help! And somewhere along the line that runaway train of thoughts led to the fateful words of Sarah: “Abraham, take my maidservant.”


We have the luxury of being privy to the whole story when looking at the lives of Abraham and Sarah. We slap our foreheads and cringe, wondering why they ever pulled Hagar onto the scene, because we know that Isaac isn’t far off, and we know the nightmare that Ishmael ends up being to Sarah, and how the pain bleeds over onto Abraham. So in our hearts we think, ‘Come on, you two, hang in there, just a few more years and God’s gonna bring about one of his better miracles. You’ll get your son, Isaac, and you won’t have to suffer through all that domestic drama. ‘


We plead with them in our minds, but it’s only because we’ve got the whole script in our hands. Sarah and Abraham only knew what they knew at the time, which is that God has promised but nothing had happened. They got discouraged and hadn’t yet discovered how swiftly God’s hand can move when he’s ready, as fast as he summons forth spring. The suddenness of spring never ceases to remind me of how quickly he can move when it’s time. I suppose the thing that amazes me most about spring is how lighting quick the whole thing happens. I mean, you have to wait a bunch of months for it, but then when it finally hits it’s like the circus came to town.


I think Sarah and Abraham were just a little on the front side of spring when they determined Hagar the slave girl was the way to go. They forgot how fast spring happens when it finally dawns. How immediate God’s strokes are when he deems it time to move. It was as if they could comprehend the promise but not the fulfillment of it. As time passed, they must have figured it was up to God to come up with the promise but up to them to carry it out. They didn’t understand things like “the appointed time.”- No Other Gods by: Kelly Minter

 I don’t know a lot, but I have learned over the years when the Lord is trying to get my attention and get a message across; “My sheep know my voice.” If there is one word I would use to describe my relationship with Jesus right now it would be ‘intimate.’ He created me. He knows me fully. There are just moments, like tonight, when the message above, the reminder of it will come as quickly as the wind, and the song I heard tonight by Rebecca St. James “You make everything beautiful” are, I believe, God ever pursuing this heart of mine and reminding me over,and over,and over again to TRUST HIM! No matter what the circumstance, He is still faithful. I am called to walk by faith and not by sight! I share all this with you, to one:help myself process through the beauty of tonight and just how overwhelmed I am by God’s pursuit of me, and two: to encourage anyone who finds themselves in a situation where you feel so tempted to take matters into your own hands because you don’t see how “it” is all going to come together. Your call is the same as mine," to walk by faith and not by sight."

This is the song Rebecca St. James sung tonight that was, if anything, the whole reason God had me at the concert in the first place. Jesus is the initiator of all things faith, so I know I was not there by accident, but it was a divine appointment. And maybe, just maybe, the Lord had me there to remind me, once again To wait upon Him. That when it's time, it will come as quickly as the wind.