I’ve tried to relax and accept God’s perfect timing, but the summer of 2012 challenged my faith and put my resolve to the test in some extreme ways. That summer, in the space of a week, my daughter underwent cancer surgery, and my mother died.
The dog died five weeks later. I emerged from the other side of that summer to realize something: God can pull good out of the direst circumstances. But we often don’t realize it until much later, when we can look back and see God’s hand at work.
Sometimes I still get impatient with God’s timing. I want things on my schedule. I think back to that horrible, grace-filled summer and realize that God’s plan is far too perfect for me to comprehend. I pray I someday learn to trust that completely.
This message is an excerpt of “That horrible, grace-filled summer” by Joellen Barak in the July/August 2019 issue of Gather magazine.
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