This morning the Lord took me on a journey through my 2019 and 2020 journals again…

He’s showing me the dots connecting through some situations I went through.

And He’s allowing me to see, He’s bring more of the “bigger picture” into view…

I look at where I’m standing now, in “this time”…

And I look at, “this time” in the year of 2019…

“This time” in the year of 2020…

A lot of times God shows me things and connects dots through the “year to the day, and the year to the day” kind of way. Patterns, connections, little “ah-ha moments.”

You know, the beginning of 2019 was one of the hardest, harshest years of my life. It was brutal…and yes, it was disorienting for a little while.

And then somehow, after a little while, it all turned around, and suddenly I could see what the enemy was trying to keep us from, what he was attempting to shut down in mine and Jason’s lives together.

But this morning… God is showing me even more of just how much He had His hand all over those times, those situations…

“This time” in 2019…

The things that happened—the losses, the times of unknown, the outright spiritual attacks on our destinies, the dark cloud of confusion that felt like it almost suffocated us for a season…

BUT GOD.

And this morning, I’m looking at what we went through…

And I look at these dots that God is connecting…

“The enemy tried these things, and yes, you went through them… but look NOW at what I was doing in the midst of it, and look NOW at what I was doing ALL ALONG! Just look at what is “coming into view” now in your life…LOOK AT WHAT I HAVE DONE IN THE MIDST OF ALL OF THIS!”

And He shows me how He “develops” and processes the “film”… the process takes place in a dark room, doesn’t it? And for a little while, we can’t see…

But then, after a time of unknown, the “picture” begins to “come into view”…

And it’s beautiful!

We can now see what He was doing, what He was “developing”… that we couldn’t see at the time.

We can now see what He was doing in the midst of the “unknown” and the “confusion”…

You know, the thing we are facing as a Nation right now…

One day, we’re going to be able to look back at what we went through and say,

“Oh my goodness… I can see it now. All of these things I/we went through, all of the attacks on my life/this Nation, all of the times of unknown, uncertainty…I can see the fingerprints of God all over all of that now, and now I can SEE what He was doing, and some of the “why” and some of the reason… I can see it now!”

Don’t you know that God already knew we would be facing the things we face?

And He does things to prepare the way, to empower us, even before we know what’s coming, even when we’re in the middle and we have no clue what is going on or what could be next.

He makes a way.

He has made a way, He is making a way, and He will make a way!

I have been reflecting on all of these situations in my own life this morning… all of these situations God has taken and “made beautiful… in HIS timing…” and in His way.

And I believe He’s showing me some things about His way, that go far beyond just my little life.

God makes these things “beautiful”….. in HIS timing.

And as His people, when we find ourselves in the midst of these situations, we just need to keep standing in faith, to keep taking the steps He instructs us to take—one by one… even if we cannot see the path.

Even if we cannot see His plan right now.

He will pull it all together… so beautifully… so miraculously… in His timing, and in His way!

Do you know that so many times, the things we see are really so very different than how we see them on the surface?

But God is so good to clear everything up.

And He will “bring us into the clearing” so we can see in “clear view”…

…in His way, and in His timing.

He is faithful to deliver us in these “situations,” and as we come out of each one, we may be a bit shaken up, saying, “God! What just happened? What did You allow that to happen?”

…but in time, He begins to bring us into the clearing, and then He so beautifully connects the dots, and He brings into view…

“the picture”

And He shows us, how He has made it beautiful… in His time, and in His way.

The things I have gone through in 2019…

They have allowed me to experience this:

“Oh God!! That was YOU! That was YOU saying this to me!”

“That dream I had…a year prior to the day, to the TIME of this situation that I went through…

That feeling I had that I didn’t understand or trust at the time…

That knowing…

That hesitancy…

That…. was You. Through these things You took me through, You are teaching me about “me and You”…

And I didn’t understand at the time, and it was hard, but how You were taking me through these things, that one day I would begin to see and grasp and understand…

And God these things I’ve gone through—I’ve gotten to experience Your deliverance! Your goodness!

And I’ve gotten to know You.

And I’ve also gotten to know a little more about who You have created me to be, and to grow into.”

Thank You, Father. ? I love Your way. And even though I don’t fully understand it, You are so faithful to teach me Your way when I seek You, little by little by little, step by step by step…and You help me to recognize You—and to see You, in the midst of everything that I face.

You make IT ALL WORTH IT.

I trust You, God! I trust Your way! I trust YOUR plan!

-Heather ?