I have been watching a beautiful love story unfold. It has only been evident for three years, but it began fifteen years ago. God brought a little girl and her family to our church. This little girl began to take piano lessons from me when she was seven. I then became her Sunday school teacher while she was in the 4th–6th grade. I had occasional contact with her during her teen years while at church or working with the youth group. I received an invitation to her high school graduation, which happened to be the same ceremony from which my son was graduating. She and my son both entered college, and life moved on. I did not see her much for about eighteen months, but then she and my son began developing their friendship, which led to dating, which led to engagement, and which, in just two weeks, will lead to their marriage. I will enter a new stage of relating to her as I gain a daughter, and I will see more beauty unfold. I never saw this coming all those years ago, but God had a perfect plan, and when it was His timing, it came to fruition.
God makes everything beautiful in its time.1 Although we don’t know how things will all turn out, He does, and we can trust Him. Will all things we experience in our lifetimes be good? No; we live in a fallen world. But God is good, and He will work for the good of those who love Him.2 So even if the circumstances of our lives do not change, we can be transformed by His glory and for His glory. There are flowers that can bloom in the desert, during drought, and in the dark, and when we choose to live a life for God, beauty will unfold in our lives. When we move to become more like Christ and exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, we will become beautiful. Just as a flower needs time and nutrients to bloom, He will grow us, tend us, nurture us, and bring a beautiful harvest from our lives. He who started the work will faithfully complete it.
The beauty of His plan for us is beyond anything we can even imagine. Just as it was when God created the world, adding more and more beauty, so it is with a heart surrendered to Him. It is like watching a beautiful love story unfold. Just as we move from being a stranger to an acquaintance to a casual friend to a serious friend to a dating relationship to being engaged to being married, our relationship with God moves through stages. The more time we spend with Him, the more we will know Him and see His involvement in our lives. Our actions will make all the difference in how our relationship with Him unfolds. We can move from a point of realizing He exists to knowing Him intimately. We can move from being His creation to becoming His child. We can invite Him to be our Savior, and His Spirit will come to dwell within us, never leaving nor forsaking us. We can then continue to grow our relationship by communing with Him and taking on His heart and mind. Over time, we will discover more of His attributes, and our love for Him will grow. And a beautiful story will unfold.
He has declared His love for us. Will we receive it? Will we invite Him to live in us, walk with us, and be the One with whom we spend eternity? Prophecy is unfolding step by step. One day, Jesus will return for His own, and the beauty of eternal life with Him will unfold for them. Will this beauty unfold in your life?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
NOTES
1 See Ecclesiastes 3:11.
2 See Romans 8:28.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, ©1982 by Thomas Nelson.
©Text and photo Francee Strain, October 23, 2021
Come Unto Me Ministries 