Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Ultimate Surprise Party

“‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 1:9-10.

One day in the summer of 2015, Bruce and I came home to find a surprise party being thrown for both our 25th wedding anniversary and my sister and brother-in-law. It was a great day and I couldn’t believe all of the beautiful details that our children prepared on our behalf. For me, a big part of the joy that comes from events is the processing of the day the next morning in my quiet time. I kept thinking about how as I was walking out my mundane days leading up to that event, they were secretly planning and orchestrating every detail of the surprise. As I was thinking of other things, they were thinking of me. As I slept they were wide awake creating…as I ran errands they were developing ideas…as I was cutting grass they were cutting ribbons and bows. I didn’t see it coming… (well, maybe a little idea) I didn’t hear any whisperings of it…my mind was on other things. When the party was revealed what a joyful day it was!

We live each day completely unaware of the things that God is preparing for each of us. He is orchestrating details that will string together a surprise like no other. He is connecting the dots of things already in place, and creating the next set of dots to hook together in time. We can neither hurry His plans nor alter them without His permissive will. We can make our plans and prepare for situations but it is the Lord who will direct our ultimate steps. We as believers are so confident in His handling of our eternal lives, but why aren’t we as trusting with our lives in the now? We must walk out our days with the confidence that His plans are awesome. We need some faith to know in our hearts that when we see nothing happening on our behalf, God is still working. We need to know that when we feel all alone and invisible, He sees us and is with us. We need to understand that just because we don’t hear the music doesn’t mean our party is not being planned.

I love the thought of God surprising me with unbelievable celebrations while living on this earth. I know that the most beautiful surprise party will be the one where I close my eyes to this earth and open them to heaven.

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9.

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