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Unexpected beauty.
The evening sky in Belize.
Jan. 2005. |
My
communications career leads me to writing about the complexities of the
commodity markets one day, and the sweetness of family farms the next. I didn’t
expect that.
When
I was in high school, I didn’t expect to receive back my ACT scores and
discover my math score at the top.
I
didn’t expect that I would travel to the South Pacific, Belize, Navajoland, New
England or the Outer Banks.
I
thought maybe I’d live in a castle with my All-American family, and sure,
challenges would come our way, but they wouldn’t really throw me off course.
All my great plans would work.
But
I’ve re-discovered over the last few years that even plans that may be God’s
for my life don’t necessarily happen on my Facebook timeline where I would
place them. Some of them seem logical, fitting. But still, God doesn’t bring
them to fruition in my life, and I hear clearly from Him that a dream I wanted,
just isn’t His best for me.
Now
and then, He shocks me at how He does
use me. That person asked me for my
suggestions. Why would anyone so practically
perfect need my input? She admires how I pray. Seriously? I
admire how she prays, seems more
appropriate. Sometimes, I finish a project to help a friend, or one for work or
ministry on time, and I know God showered me with grace and ability.
Around midnight Boaz suddenly woke up and turned
over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his
feet!
Ruth
3:8 NLT
Shocking
today, right? Let alone back in the day, the Old Testament day. Yet, God was at
work. Ahem. Read about it for yourself.
God’s
so like that. He works in ways we don’t expect. Sometimes we like His ways, and
honestly, sometimes we don’t. His ways surprise us. Sometimes we find Him
mysterious.
We, of course, have plenty of wisdom to pass on
to you once you get your feet on firm spiritual ground, but it's not popular
wisdom, the fashionable wisdom of high-priced experts that will be out-of-date
in a year or so. God's wisdom is something mysterious that goes deep
into the interior of his purposes. You don't find it lying around on the
surface. It's not the latest message, but more like the oldest—what God
determined as the way to bring out his best in us, long before we ever arrived
on the scene. The experts of our day haven't a clue about what this eternal
plan is. If they had, they wouldn't have killed the Master of the God-designed
life on a cross. That's why we have this Scripture text: No one's ever seen or
heard anything like this, Never so much as imagined anything quite like it—
What God has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and heard it
because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you.
1 Corinthians 2:6-10 The Message
(emphasis mine)
Now
that doesn’t mean we’ll instantly understand each step where He leads. But we
have that glimpse; we’re learning to look at all things eternally.
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
“And
my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For
just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so
my ways are higher than your ways
and
my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah
55:8-10 NLT
No
wonder He surprises me, and you. No wonder I feel tension and confusion. No
wonder I am brought to tears, and to my knees, and to singing way louder than
my talent, all with joy and gratitude. If His ways and thoughts didn’t
challenge me and show me greater love, greater everything, I wouldn’t be
worshipping much of a God.
But
I know I am.
©Text and photo Helene
Bergren 2012. All rights reserved.
All
Scripture copied from biblegateway.com.
