So Far To Come and So Far To Go

May 2, 2013

In our Bible study, we are studying about how God can bring us “so far.”  In other words, He can bring us further than we ever could of our own accord.  In the study, we were asked to place ourselves along a continuum rating our progress of growth from “Can’t see any progress” to “A little progress” to “Significant progress” to “So far.”  My first circle was at “significant progress” because I thought, “I still have so far to go.”  But, when I looked back over my life, I realized that I’d come “so far” and that it was only by the hand of God.

One area that I’ve come so far in is flexibility.  It used to drive me nuts to have my plans changed.  Once I made plans, they were set in stone.  We used to have friends that would never plan the weekend more than a couple of days in advance and that was so frustrating to me!  I wanted to know what I was doing, what I could plan on.  Being married to Tim, who used to work in tech support, really challenged me in this area.  Plans changed constantly because he would get a call to go work.  It wasn’t a change I willingly succumbed to.

For me, the most memorable line in the movie, “The American President,” starring Annette Bening, Michael Douglas, and Michael J. Fox, came from Fox’s character who was telling the President, “I tell my girlfriends that all plans are soft until I confirm 30 minutes before.”  It represents a way that I had to learn to live.  Looking back, I see that I was in training.  Even before I knew God, He was working in my life to bring me so far.  He brought Tim to me and one result of that is me having to learn flexibility.  Looking at it now, I can see that there is an art to being flexible.  Going with the flow, taking things in stride takes grace.

That very grace allows me to take a step back, not get so frustrated, and wait to see what God has planned for me.  For instance, when my schedule at work gets light, instead of worrying about it, I wait to see what happens because so often it opens at just the right point to allow for an unexpected event.  One great example was this morning.  Early this morning, at 5 am, I awake from a nightmare that was quite upsetting.  I managed to go back to sleep until my alarm went off at 7:00 but I was still reeling from the nightmare.  I remember thinking, “If I had an office job, I’d call in sick this morning.”  But I don’t and I had three appointments this morning and three after lunch.  It’s really not an easy thing to reschedule appointments.  So I went to work.  As it turned out, my second and third appointments no-showed me.  That used to be so much more frustrating to me.  But today, was one of those times when I knew it was working in my favor.  It gave me time to reorient my mind.

Then a colleague brought me flowers just to say she appreciated me.  And then I went to lunch with a friend.  All three things worked together to get me back on track.  I see God’s hand in every step of this: Tim, learning to be more flexible, learning to trust that God has plans for me, and encouragement from friends.  Who else could orchestrate such things?  By the grace of God, I have come so far.

“Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
~ ~ 2 Sam. 7:18

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
~ ~ Jer. 29:11-13