God Is Never Late

I have been learning something about God lately- about how He 'typically' works.

Of course we know that God is never late. When it seems that He's 'too late' in his provision or His intervention in our lives, we must not have a sense of what He's doing in His perfect timing.

But I am also beginning to learn that God is rarely early.

And wouldn't we love him to be? Don't we love those times when God provides something before we even know that we need it? And He does, occasionally. But often his provisions happen just in the nick of time. If He was always early, we would never have to trust Him. We would never be required to live by faith, believing wholeheartedly that, though I don't have the money/clothes/food/etc now, by the time I need them, even if it's tomorrow morning, they will be supplied.

The camp is fund-raising for a new staff house, and a few weeks ago I was talking with our financial secretary about the state of the funds for the project, and she was commenting on how much we still need. Sometimes it can seem daunting to say "we need this many thousand dollars to finish this project we've started". However, we've never come to a point where we as a staff are ready to begin the next stage of work, or ready to buy the supplies we need to do that day's work, and been short on the money. I commented to my friend that it would be 'just like God' to have the money trickle in, little by little, just as we need it. That way we will be sure to remember that it came from Him, and we did not do it on our own.

On Sunday morning, Z ripped his good church shirt. He was climbing in his sister's crib, and refused to get out when I asked him to. After I walked out of the room, he tried to climb out on his own, and caught his shirt on the edge, scratched his stomach, and ripped a BIG hole in his nice shirt. This isn't a huge deal, but Z only has three nice short-sleeve shirts in this summer's size, and he is about to outgrow one of them. So now, after the ripping incident, he has two short-sleeve church shirts.

Yesterday I got an email from Freecycle about a church clothing bank, which offers free children's and adult clothing. It happens once a month - and it was happening this morning! The church was located only 15 minutes from my house! So, guess where we spent our morning?

Not only did I find TWO free church shirts for Zachary in the exact size he needed, but I also found about SEVEN free summer shirts for myself! God is so good, isn't He?

Right on time.

I try to keep these blessings at the forefront of my mind, especially when I am in the middle of situations that make me FEEL like God is running late - like He could and should have done something long ago to prevent the current situation.

He is never late. Rarely early, but truly never late.