Jill Johnson
By JILL JOHNSON
Have you ever had just a "down" day or week, or sometimes even a month? I have had those, and some even recently. You know, the days or times when it feels like you are just in limbo waiting for God?
You pray and pray, but it seems like your situation is just too big and too overwhelming. I have noticed that when I am in those down times, God will faithfully send encouragement. It might not always be from a place where I am looking for it. It usually is unexpected.
Well, maybe it was unexpected to me, but never to God. What appears to be unexpected, surprising, or not anticipated is always known and planned by God. What may seem random or accidental is intentional and part of a larger plan of God. Our job is to be aware and notice those things as encouragement. In other words, we have to look for and recognize them.
One day last week, I left home feeling discouraged. I had a conversation with my daughter, and my heart was heavy for her. I got in the car, and the radio was on, but my mind was not focused on it at all. I had a million thoughts running through my head. All of a sudden, I heard the radio host talking about the timing of waiting and blessings. Her comment was "Sometimes the wait is longer because you are being positioned for something greater." In other words, sometimes the waiting can be a time of preparation and not punishment.
After I heard the comment on the radio, I was struck by how the next songs were all what I needed to hear to encourage my heart. If I take one line from each of the next six songs that were played, here is what it would say. "The truth is, I am my Father's child. If He can roll the stone, He can send the darkness running. When I'm lost in the current of a raging sea, I have this blessed assurance holding me. Weary traveler, restless soul, you were never meant to walk this road alone. I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands for You are who You are, no matter where I am. I will send out an army in the middle of the darkest night, it's true, I will rescue you." How amazing is God!
We might not always see His encouragement coming, but we can trust that He will provide it exactly when we need it. In the waiting, He is always there. In the discouraging times, He WILL send encouragement. In the unknown times, He does have a plan.
I am reminded over and over to keep my heart open and my eyes and ears peeled because God often wraps His greatest encouragement in the most ordinary, unexpected moments. Join me in expecting the unexpected while you wait, trusting God is already ahead of us, preparing a word or "song" of hope. It might be from a source you would least expect. Look, listen, and anticipate a God surprise! Ephesians 3:20 NLT: "Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think."
___
Jill Johnson finds spiritual applications in her everyday experiences as a wife, mother, grandmother, and Georgian. Jill is retired from the Georgia Baptist Mission Board and is available to speak to your church's women's gatherings. Reach her at jjohnson@gabaptist.org.
