Super big news! I had my first high school girls’ bible study last night!
I got all kinds of goodies and a few grapes so we could pretend to be healthy. I set out 150 tags and two black Sharpies so I could memorize everyone’s name. I carried every bible of every translation in our house to our living room. This included NIV, NLT, King James, The Message, Joyce Meyer’s Amplified, the Minecraft bible and the Lego brick bible. Yes, those last two really exist.
My own high school daughter, Jordan, helped me bookmark each of them at Luke 22:42. It’s the story where Jesus is praying in the garden. He knows he’s going to die and asks God if they really need to go through with this plan. Then in total submission, he says, “Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
At 6:19, the dog started barking and I got all tingly because people were arriving early! They must all be so excited! Turns out, it was a false alarm. Our guard dog was alerting us to a large truck driving by.
At 6:30 everything was ready. I sat by the front door so I could greet these sweet girls as they were coming up the driveway.
At 6:32 I was still sitting there.
At 6:42 Jordan said, “Mom, don’t feel bad, but I don’t think anyone’s coming.”
So at 6:45 we put away the food and drinks and name tags and Sharpies and bibles.
I started to wonder what could have gone wrong. We had several announcements in the church bulletin. We even had a newsletter mailed out. Yet 6:30 came and went without a single soul.
Have you ever planned something out so perfectly just to watch it flop? Maybe you scheduled an amazing beach vacation only to sit in the room because it was raining. Maybe you put together a great presentation that was shot down by your colleagues. Maybe you decorated your dorm room in your mind until you got the rejection letter.
It’s normal to feel disappointment. It’s normal to take a moment or two before we pivot our attitude. But how long will we let ourselves sit in the muck before we are willing to say as Jesus did, “Yet not My will, but Yours be done”?
It can get especially confusing when we feel like we are doing God’s will and it still doesn’t work out. That doesn’t mean you heard Him wrong. It doesn’t mean He’s punishing you or that you aren’t His favorite child. It just means you haven’t gotten to the end of the story. He’s still working and there are blessings in the waiting.
I might not be sitting at my front door next Sunday night, but I’ll be on my couch waiting. When it’s God’s will, I will be ready. Will you?
