my breakfast table looked cute and back to schooly at 6:00 this morning.
my insides didn’t look quite so cute and excited about “back to school”. it was a bit more turmoil-ish, anxious, stressed, and some other words that don’t conjure up happy warm feelings...
but reading jen hatmaker’s blog the other day (and rereading it this morning) helped me. especially the last couple of paragraphs... she is telling about her son’s adoption (which according to twitter HE IS HOME as of yesterday!) and she in encouraging those of us who are in the middle of a story not to lose hope. not to lose focus. not to lose faith...
from I’m not done yet...
When God said he wasn't done yet, he just wasn't done yet. He wasn't speaking in code. It wasn't a trick. The story was still in the middle, but I wanted to flip ahead to the end, past the conflict and struggle and straight to the happy ending. As Keeper of the Story, God knew the whole plot....
God doesn't promise us a clean middle part of the story. He never said we wouldn't encounter antagonists and drama and surprise twists and heartbreak. We weren't assured a G-rated plot where good feelings are peddled and no one dies or leaves or fails or waits. God promised things like healing and restoration and redemption. Which implies there will be injuries and broken relationships and losses. When he speaks of beauty from ashes, he seems to know there will be actual ashes to resurrect beauty from.
If you are confused right now, if your story isn't going the way you thought, or if you're tangled up in the messy middle where hope is deferred, dear reader, it could just be that God isn't done yet. Your story is not finished. Every hero and heroine must wade through the conflict to get to the end, and you can trust God because he is good. If you have nothing else to cling to, remember this: God is good. He loves goodness and justice. He heals and redeems. He is on the side of love and beauty. He is for you. He is never against you. You may be against you, other people may be against you, but God is not against you.
It is okay to be confused; I'm afraid that is our lot as finite creatures dealing with an infinite God. Some of God's best heroes were confused in their subplots. But I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on. Because God is good and he is for goodness.
And he just isn't done yet.
{jen hatmaker}
so i could face this new beginning knowing that even though summer was over, God isn’t done yet. He doesn’t just work when school is out. He works all of the time. we are still in the middle of our story. there are still ashes left to be turned into beauty. and there might still be more things that burn up into ashes before the beauty part comes to fruition. but He isn’t done yet...
here are their first day of school photos. millie and maxx were out the door at 7 a.m. i drove them because millie was a bit worried about finding parking this first day. but later this week she will start driving them both to school. rosalea doesn’t leave until 9:00 and i will go with her because there is a parent meeting at 9:30. she doesn’t have a cute first day of school outfit because she will be running with the cross country team right after school and she can’t take a backpack. so no way to change clothes before running. she is doing her morning devotion in this photo. she was up and ready a full hour before we needed to leave. but she won’t be home until almost 6 due to the cross country running. sigh.
