I was surprised when the phone call came. He said simply, “I quit!” The conversation with a person I’d hired six months ago, left me with ‘What in the world am I going to do now?' and a sinking feeling. Taking a deep breath, I thought, “God’s got a plan.”
After talking with my children, one said, “Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.” Another said, “It was time. It wasn’t working!” Still, for me, I felt momentarily lost with so many questions about how to proceed with the project he’d been hired to lead. It was way beyond what I felt I could handle.
I kept reaching out to God until finally, I just told God, I just need your peace. I know you are there! You’re weren’t surprised with this ‘event’. I know you love me and will help me through.
Eventually I calmed down and my son and I created a tentative new plan and he assured me we’d get through. I prayed again before going to bed and had no issue falling asleep. But as 4:00 a.m. rolled around, the darkness seemed alive and well in my brain again, just like the cold darkness outside. I tossed and turned as I relived the conversation and all the questions that followed.
When I woke again, I asked God to give me something to calm me once again. I wanted so much to just trust Him with what I’d given Him—a total surrender, which was totally genuine, —until all those negative, critical voices came calling again.
Then there was Bible time! I love the time I spend with the Lord in the early
morning….before the sun even rises. And God gave me a verse from Job 29. “His candle shineth upon my head, and by His light I walk through the darkness.” Job 29:3
It was totally what I needed. God’s light is available to me 24/7, even in the darkness when sounds from the depths of blackness begin howling and tormenting.
There’s a song about how when asking for peace during a storm…. that God doesn’t always remove the storm; but he does walk with us through it! It isn’t that he ‘can’t’ remove the storm; but it’s what we can learn as we walk through it.
I will learn to depend and trust him even more. I will be reminded that in God’s strength all things are possible, even about things I know nothing about! I will be reminded that worry only brings more anxiety, and is horribly unproductive! I will see that it’s not about my fears, it’s about God’s presence and power.
As of this writing, while the family and I have a plan, we still don’t know God’s plan. It may be completely different that what we envision. But that’s okay. Chaos ma,y in some form, continue to haunt me as I learn how to wait on God, allowing Him to work out the details I don’t know anything about, and more. And who knows, he might even send a person more suited my needs and way of thinking to replace the person who quit.
I know God is for me and I also understand that Satan is going to do all he can to alter God’s plans. But God will prevail, because he is all powerful and faithful, with a unique perspective on things unseen, and an enduring love.
As we face this New Year, it’s hard to tell when any of us will have an overwhelming challenge that will seem to overtake the world we have been accustomed to living. It’s the way of life. It’s how we respond to these challenges that helps define who we are and indicates how we choose to live.
I expect as the days, weeks, and months ahead, I will need to make decisions I hadn’t planned on. Still I know if I go to the Lord before I make a decision and wait for him to show me what I should do, it’s much more likely I’ll make the correct decision!
What challenges are you facing today? Have you had a ‘talk with God’ about it? Perhaps this is where you will find his unique peace.
Photo Credit: Peace In The Chaos
Photo Credit: Peace In The Chaos
