Psalm 16: 1 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; *
I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord,
my good above all other.”

2 All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, *
upon those who are noble among the people.

Paused right off the bat this morning at the psalm and I haven’t made my way through the remainder of today’s reading so in awe I am of the power of God’s Word to protect me, remind me that I AM in God’s hands.  To let go, to look around at where I am, and to let God do with me what He intends.  My story but His glory.  God in control.

I have been in a long, long season of trial.  When the trial first came to me – rather, when I first awakened to the truth that I was in a season of trial – it looked to me to have a shelf life of maybe a couple of years.  An end.  I remembering thinking – and praying – that if I could get through this very rough patch and get back to path the Lord, God had intended me to be upon all along – well then, this rough patch season would fade.  I’d look back at it and delight that I had made it through and give thanks and glory to God for getting me through, and well…all would be well.

Hmm.  My thoughts, my best made, plans.  God laughs at those, you know.

We all have our battles, our trials.  Some come and go, others persist and seem to have no end. Chronic pain vs a bum knee that can be repaired through surgery, for example. Memory loss vs loss of a loved one.  Paul’s thorn vs Job’s loss of life as he knew it.  Trials all. Though the nature different, chronic and on-going or seasonal, as children of God – we are encouraged and commanded, even, to go to God for the way through.  To let go, and let God. To find God in the mix where we children of God have to trust His presence in this mess.  God is there, in the trial, valley, chronic or otherwise, positioned to teach us, lead us through, by His hand (the circumstances that conspire in one way or another) and by His Word (what is revealed to us in scripture) – to make us stronger through our weakness, our trial.

Ok.  So I have been making my way through.  And of late I have felt like I had  – made it through. Things were coming together and the rough patch was behind me, and I was just glimpsing the finish line.  It was in view.  I sensed the road beneath my feet was the one God wanted me upon. I was beginning to brave a look backwards looking at the valley I had made it through and climbed out of and thinking it was behind me.

Then.  Just last night as I was doing a mundane thing mapping out my calendar for the coming months to align with this path I thought I was on, I was jolted by a notice that what I thought was going to take just under a year to complete, was in fact going to require another two years. Ha! I could almost hear my Lord, God laughing.  Not a mean-spirited laugh – more like a chuckle, ‘Oh my, my dear one.  No, you are not through the trial. You haven’t gotten back to the straight road, yet.  My time, loved one, my time.  Not yours.’

I didn’t panic.  I didn’t overthink.  I just took the sweet chuckle of God’s laugh with me to bed, readjusting in my head the calendar and list of things to do – short term, and long. And I just prayed to let me sleep.  To let me know that I was trusting Him and letting go by bringing me rest.

And I did.  Sleep. And then this morning, I woke to this very reassuring word from the Lord.

1 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; *
I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord,
my good above all other.”

I don’t hear God chuckling this morning. I just feel His love. Kind of like Tigger here hugging Pooh Bear. I am comforted.

And I trust that His way for me is taking so much darn time for a reason.  After all, the shortest distance between two points – between birth and death – is a straight line.  This crooked-detour-thwarted-land-mined path I have been put upon has given me, gifted me, blessed me with time – more time.

God’s time.  Not mine.  God’s plans.  Not mine.

Praise Him.

Friday Lectionary Readings:

AM Psalm 16, 17; PM Psalm 22
Jer. 38:14-28; 1 Cor. 15:1-11; Matt. 11:1-6