I Have Seen His Glory

So I may not be that old, but I sure am not that young either. And I have never, ever seen what has transpired in our nation in the last two weeks, let alone the world. Ever! And 9/11 was crushing in and of itself.

So, this week I found myself thinking. Praying. Thinking. Worrying. Praying. And Praying. And then I walked into Abbey’s room yesterday. And there it was. FLOWERS. It was a bouquet of flowers that I had bought to celebrate her return from the Dominican Republic from her missions trip. She had gone on this trip with JMU over Spring Break which was March 7 – March 14.

In the time frame of that week, the world turned upside down. She left with the world pretty standard and simple, and then returned to the rest of junior year online, schools closed, churches online, a new word added to the dictionary called Social Distancing, and more. Way too much to name. But I stared at the flower bouquet yesterday and I remembered back to when I bought it.

The bouquet was pretty when I bought it, but I remember very distinctly that the lilies in the bouquet were closed and unopen. Were they pretty? Sure. I bought the bouquet, right? But as I looked at them yesterday, it hit me. Beauty had unfolded. I didn’t see it occur. I don’t know the exact days that the beauty unfurled, but when I paid attention to thatflower bouquet yesterday, I saw it. Beauty! Fullness! Life!

And here’s what I thought. That’s our world. Our world is in utter chaos and we have been forced, and for very good reason, to close in. Stay home. Pull in those petals and wait.

But like that flower that bloomed, we shall too. We will open again, and we will become beautiful again. As a community. As a nation. As a person. As a world. We will.

Like God promises to take a flower from seedling to beauty, so will he with us. With our nation and world. And guess what? There’s more beauty yet to unfold. Do you see it in the bouquet? Do you? Some lilies have bloomed in their time. No longer closed, but bursting forth with beauty. Yet some lilies still need to bloom. Their beauty is still hidden, but, at the right time, at God’s time, the beauty will burst forth from them as well.

I just love this picture. I LOVE how, in God's time, BEAUTY ARISES!

The times may look dark and unfriendly, my friend, I get it, but God is here. He is with us. He tells us over and over in his word – “I am with you”. And he is. Always, till the end of time. So take heart in that truth and spread that good word. We all need to hear it and believe it!

And take this time to reconnect with God. I know life gets busy, so take this #StayHome time to find that friendship again. To nurture it again. And to breathe in the beauty of a friend like no other in Jesus.

And in those old, wise words from High School Musical – “WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER"!

Just keep praying, friends. Just keep shouting this truth – 

"THE LORD IS WITH US - WHOM SHALL WE FEAR"!