A few weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast interview of one of my favorite author/speakers, Lysa Terkeurst. She wrote a book, a couple of years ago, called, “It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered”. I highly recommend the book to anyone who is struggling with disappointments in life. While she illudes to her own painful life experiences in the book, what is shared throughout the pages could be applied to any number of devastating disappointments in someone’s life. Ultimately Lysa lands in a place of grace, hope, and thankfulness for what God has done in her life. And it was just what I needed to hear during a particularly hard season.
Sadly, we all know that as humans on this earth what is certain in life is that we cannot escape disappointments. Struggles with money, losses of many kinds, unexpected diagnoses, altered plans. There are so many disappointments that can leave us shattered. Where is God in all of this. And what do we do when the disappointments lead to prayers and those prayers don’t seem to get answered.
As I sat there listening to the podcast interview, I heard Lysa Terkeurst repeat something I’d once read in her book and something that had led to a major shift in my thinking, “God loves us too much to answer our prayers at any other time than the right time… and in any other way than the right way.” Oh, how thankful I am for this! So many times, as a mom of a child and now adult with special needs I’ve prayed for things that haven’t happened in the way that I had asked, or in the timeline that I had asked, or that haven’t even happened at all. At these times it is always tempting to question God as to the reasons why. However, when I remember God’s goodness and love for us, I know that I can trust Him with the plans (Jere 29:11). And when I remember that His plans are bigger than my own and beyond my comprehension, I know that I can rest in Him and wait on what He has for us (Isa 55:9). I am so very thankful for this.
This Thanksgiving let us remember the goodness and the love of God.
