Prophetic Words

Last Thursday, I wrote an entry to this bloc on the subject of "Delays". It was written 5 days before I knew anything about Maria's tests or the eventual surgery. Last Saturday night, three days after her surgery and some 9 hours after they were supposed to be married, Jonathan and I were sitting in the living room and he was on my laptop catching up on reading this bloc. He came across the following lines from that posting:

Delays. Sometimes they benefit us and sometimes they frustrate us. Life is often lived in the delays; in places where we wait; in times when we are waiting on the Lord and see our futures as being "delayed" by circumstances. I wonder if God does not work just as much through and in the delays as he does in the moving moments. Israel was delayed 40 years; Jesus public ministry was delayed 40 days; Abraham's seed was delayed for years and years; Ruth's inclusion in the Jewish family was delayed by the death of her first husband; Paul was delayed from going into Macedonia and he was delayed by the imprisonment in an Philippian Jail. If you are in a delay, watch out, God is working - more than you ever think or expect!

Jonathan read them back to me with emotion choking his voice. He said, "I didn't know you were a prophet, Dad!" Well, thanks for the thought, but I'm not. But I do believe that God prepares you for what is coming. In talking to Paul and Janet Flores, Janet told me that Paul preached the Sunday before all this happened and that the sermon he preached was exactly what he needed to face the surgery of his daughter. I firmly believe that when you do what God calls you to do he works out your life in ways that help to prepare you for the uncertain future we all have. He never leaves us unprepared for the trials of life (though we often feel we are unprepared). Maybe one of the reasons people don't talk about their faith as much as they should is because you may have to live by the words you speak. For me, that is a blessing because I know that if I have to live by what I have preached or taught or shared with others (even on a blog) is God's way of preparing my life for what is ahead. And I would much rather be prepared than caught unaware!