“Well, it’s about time!”
Have you ever said that?
I’ve said it to myself, the Finkster, my kids…even God. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve said, “It’s about time!”, I’d be richer than Oprah, Donald Trump and a double chocolate fudge brownie topped with chocolate chips and icing combined. Yeah, that rich. 
Then I freeze-frame (what a great song that was!) back fourteen years ago, “Don’t pray for God to give me patience, cause I don’t want it…I just want to know now.”
Yup, I was a grown adult, paying my own bills, a military officer, leader in my church and earnestly declaring to my fellow sister in Christ and military officer, that I did not want to wait, I wannawannawanna wannawannaa know NOW! Kathy smiled in the gentle way that she does, and told me that she was going to pray for God to give me patience.
Now, I know she heard me. Humph. Some friend she is. 
True friends have a way of knowing what we need, when we haven’t a clue ’cause we’re all tied up in a majestic performance of temper tantruming. 
Today, I’m waiting on quite a few prayers to be answered. Maybe you are too?
Our home has been on the market for five months now. The daily cleaning is cramping my style. Our new pad will be finished at the end of October and there’s only one delay…a buyer for our current home.
Finkster’s health, my knee….s-t-i-l-l w-a-i-t-i-n-g…..
Thing is, the Finkster and I have had a lot more tests than just the house or our health and this week, God pressed something so preciously into my heart. It’s about time alright – “it’s about time” that I step away from my old patterns of fret and trust God, His timing and His ways.
Five years ago, God’s perfect timing showed up big time. Sometimes it really helps to look back and remember how God’s provided to get ya through.
At the time our boys were one and four years old. The Finkster had a daily three-hour commute. He wasn’t, but he felt like an absent father. He desired a job where the commute would be less and he could be a family man more. Out of the blue, he received a phone call from a corporate recruiter. After several interviews and such, he was offered a job in San Diego, California. Our house in VA went on the market, we had a buyer and things were looking like they were working out.
Then two weeks before our move, we were in West Virginia, saying “Good Bye” to Dave’s family, and we received a phone call. The buyer of our home backed out (on the three-day HOA documents exception). The Finkster’s head dropped like a wilted flower. I grabbed my best friend’s hands and looked at him square in the face and said, “Babe, don’t look down, look up – God’s doing something. I don’t know what it is, but I trust Him. Trust Him babe.” So there we were, with ticked off family members (we were taking their grandbabies to the west coast) , no home buyer and my best friend gasping for breath.
Then, three days before our first car was to be shipped to California, Dave’s company, not wanting to lose him, made him an offer he just couldn’t refuse (what is it with me and the chronic Godfather move lines?). They offered not only a headquarters office (10 miles away from our current home), but they also matched the increased salary of the new company.
The Finkster called me to tell me the news. “Are you playin’ with me right now?” was all I could get out.
Funny thing is, he just wanted more family time, not money. Yes, he took the raise and the headquarters job and we thanked God but for more reasons than I’ve yet typed. You see, a month later my father had open heart surgery. I knew I wasn’t going to be there if I was a California resident. My heart was very heavy about it. God knew the desires of both of our hearts, and in the right time, He allowed all our needs to be met. I was able to be there, with my Pop in the pre-op room on the day of his open heart surgery. I went home the day after and returned again, once he was back home, for three weeks to help him in his daily life. That would not have happened if we were living in California. And it was during that three-week trip that I learned the real story of how my parents met. Guess I’m finally old enough now!
I agree, it was the oddest route, but God’s timing – perfect.
The Israelites had the oddest route too. Geographically, what could have been an 11 day trip took oh, only 40 years. God could made it a shorter time, HE is God after all…but He didn’t. While they were in the wilderness, He showed powerful provisions to demonstrate His love and well, the Israelites (like me) temper tantrumed, a lot.
God showed me a powerful “what if”.
What if…the Red Sea was already parted before Moses and the Israelites arrived as they fled from their former Egyptian captors? (See Exodus 14) The entire miracle could have been talked away. After God used Moses to part the Red Sea, even the sand under their feet was bone dry. That and the water walls that protected them could have been taken as a coincidence, or a freak of nature…or something, anything, other than God.
Know why God brought the Israelites T-H-R-O-U-G-H the wilderness and the Red Sea? I believe it was for them to have utter dependence on God.
Anything earlier…and anything later, would have been void of God’s signature. With God it is about time.
Well I’m standing here, still waiting, and believing that the very same God that allowed His power to be present in Moses to part the Red Sea is the same God that protected us from the California move and is and the same God whose timing will prove to be perfect again…even today, as we wait.
You too.
Are you waiting on God? Do you think it’s “about time”?
While I’m still going to pray and ask you to pray, I’m also going to just get crazy with my bad self, and just continue to say, “Lord, I don’t see exactly what you’re doing, but I trust you…your timing is perfect, help me have peace and be still while I wait for your timing.” It’s about time…
