“Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”” -John 13:7
Hanna here, Have you ever been in a moment or situation where you thought to yourself, Lord why is this happening or what’s the reason? Well let’s talk about those times because everyone has had them! As we go through each day, we often don’t realize why things happen the way they do, we just continue on without even thinking about it. But then at some point it could be the same day or weeks from when it happened, it all of a sudden hits you like Oh my Gosh this is why that happened then, I get it now…. Ring any bells?!
I’ve come to realize that God works in those ways, where he doesn’t want you to understand it until it will fully make sense to you. In today’s world everyone expects answers on demand and in that moment, but our God is a God who answers on His timing Not ours! I think that’s why people get so quickly angered when they pray and don’t get an answer in that split second and they start questioning and not understanding.
Here is a part of my story with understanding and trusting Gods timing:
Me and my husband had started looking at houses about 9 months ago. To begin with we started with One mortgage company who came back and told us we would only be approved for 160,000, well as most of you know that’s almost impossible to find with the prices of things today. We started searching, we finally found one that was listed at 165,000. We make an appointment to view it, we get there, and the foundation is cracked, automatically my husband said no. So, the journey continued on, well at this point we were about 2 months in and still nothing. As you could imagine I was getting aggravated, frustrated and ready to give up, but I knew there was a reason behind all of this.
Fast forward a month or so we thought okay maybe we start with a rental, well again as most of you know rent payments are more than mortgage payments these days so we quickly eliminated that. Four months later we are back to looking at houses again but with a different mortgage company. This company comes back and tells us we were approved for up to 180,000 and they gave us a cheaper monthly payment estimate than the first company did. I automatically thought oh my gosh that was God, God did that. He made us wait, so we would go through a different company who would better fit our needs…. Have chills yet?
He wasn’t stopping there either! The house hunting continues, we go to several different houses and don’t really like any of them so again I was getting frustrated. A few days later I get an email from Zillow that a house I had looked at previously was back on the market… y’all I had loved this house from the minute I first saw it on Zillow but before we could view it the first time, it went under contract and was pending. Then I got the email saying it was back on the market. We immediately jumped on it, went to view it and as soon as we walked in, we both looked at each other like this is the one. Sure enough it was the one God had planned for us this whole time! Of course we had some bumps in the road through the mortgage process because that’s what the devil does but God always came back ten times stronger getting us through those problems.
When I tell y’all God works in mysterious ways, He works in mysterious ways! I went from being aggravated, frustrated, and wanting to give up to living in the one we loved from the start that we thought was gone! Naturally we didn’t understand what He was doing when we kept going from house to house to house and mortgage company to mortgage company but now we understand he was teaching us patience, he was teaching us that he knows the dreams in our hearts, he knows what we truly want, like and need, he was teaching us that he answers in His timing and he was teaching us that He works all things out for our good! If it weren’t for Him, we would not be here right now, but He knew what we could afford and what we truly wanted from the get-go!
Throughout that whole process I had to continuously keep telling myself, God didn’t bring us this far to stop here. The devil will try to attack you every second of every day especially when its something big coming and boy was he trying to fill my head with all these negative thoughts and naturally in those moments you won’t understand why it’s happening then. In order for me to stay on the course God had us on I just kept reminding myself it’s in His timing, it will all come together at the time He has planned it. If God brings you to it he will bring you through it and where he guides he also provides!
So the next time you are getting frustrated, or aggravated and you don’t understand just remember that there’s a reason behind it all. God will show you why when the time is right. Just like John 13:7 says you might not understand it now but later you will! Stay the course and trust in His timing because I can tell you His timing is way better than any of ours! I hope this helps keep at least one person motivated to stay the course, do not give up. God is always right there, He has a plan and He will let it be known in His timing!
Tips to keep you on the course:
-Keep telling yourself everyday: It will happen in Gods timing
-Continue to put your trust in Him through everything
-Bring every situation to Him and leave it with Him, don’t try to figure it all out by yourself!
Songs that help me every time:
-Trust in God By: Elevation Worship
-Make a way By: Elevation Worship