Learning to Surrender to What You Can't See

I'm very slowly learning to truly embrace that God will bring into our life exactly what we need when we need it. He is there to understand and encourage as much as to provide answers. What may seem like chaos at the time has a purpose in a bigger vision we cannot see. It's so hard to fully grasp this but God helped me tremendously the other day by bringing a song into my awareness that so beautifully summed up everything I've been feeling lately. It felt like He literally was speaking to me through this song, reminding me to believe in what I cannot see. I've been so caught up in trying to figure things out my way in my own timing that I've missed His reassurance that it will all come together in His way and in His perfect timing. As I listened to the words in this song, I realized exactly what I was doing and knew it was time to as the song says, "surrender to what I can't see". Since then, that message has been reinforced for me in numerous ways reminding me that He truly is there for us when we open our hearts to His presence.

We can imagine a bigger vision but look for solid proof that our vision is real and worth trusting in because it seems so impossible in our realm of understanding and we cannot conceive on our own how it can come into reality. There is a sense of chaos as if God is stirring the pot yet there is also an intuitive knowing that a bigger plan is at work and an inner sense of peace that surrounds that. God is teaching me to not question the chaos but to rest in His peace, trust in His plan and surrender to what I cannot see. When we surrender to God's way, we know we are surrendering to something heavenly that is far beyond any limitation we could ever place on it. Through God, ALL things are possible!
  
"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. - Habbakuk 2:3

 

The Beauty of Space

I love this time of year – my favorite! Everything is in bloom and all the colors are just so wonderful and energizing. My container pots and planters are filled with pansies and absolutely bursting with gorgeous color right now which definitely hasn't been the case in prior years. Each year, I make the trek to the nursery, buy the tiny pansies and then come home and overfill the containers because I want instant color. I'm not patient enough to plant the recommended distance apart and sure enough, they usually die very early on in the season because they just have no more room to grow. This year I decided to take a different approach and plant them spaced apart. They looked so lost in the beginning, these tiny single pansies overwhelmed by the size of each container and I truly did have to fight the urge to add more in! But this morning as I looked out to admire their color, I realized just how incredibly beautiful they are this year! Each container is overflowing with big colorful blooms and looks so healthy. By giving them their much needed space to grow, their true potential and beauty came through. It dawned on me that there is probably a life lesson here.

How many times are we impatient and want immediate results? We don't allow the space or trust for God to work His magic. Instead, we press for the results and often get frustrated or feel like we've somehow missed the mark along the way. Often times, the answers lie in that quiet space but if we're too busy pressing for an immediate answer, we push out and miss what otherwise could have been. I think I now get it. Beautiful things will happen when we're willing to be patient and give into the space that must exist for God's greatest works to be done.

"But if we look forward to something we don't have yet, we must wait patiently and confidently" – Romans 8:25