Thursday, December 23, 2010

I am Thankful for the Blessings of 2010: #9 – Blessings Beyond Expression

[As the year comes to an end, I am listing a few of the things that happened during 2010 for which I am most thankful. The list is not in order of significance.]

As strange as it may sound, there are blessings too holy to share, works of God so glorious they are beyond explanation. Often that glory is shrouded in the ordinary and seen only by those chosen to see. Always born in the stable of prayer, these theophanies can only be responded to with inner anthems of “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty,” and “Glory to God in the Highest.” In times like these we would be wise to worship and then hide the mysteries of God deep in our heart as we prepare for the unfolding of their meaning.

I have been blessed to have had several of these encounters with the immutable wrapped in the uncertain. This year I received the answer to a prayer I had prayed for twenty eight years. I had long ago given up on believing I would see my prayer answered during my earthly life. In truth, my prayers had become attempts at resignation, “Thy will be done.” My goal had become to attain peace with His refusal to act.

And then He acted. He did what I had asked of Him, twenty eight years after I first asked. I am still working through His delay in response and trying to understand the implications of it all. My life would have been radically different if He had acted quickly, but would I be better off if He had. I believe not. And so I give Him praise for His sovereign watch-care and I wait for the fuller revelation of His purposes. “Thy will, not mine, be done for Thy will is good and perfect; it is far beyond my understanding.”

My prayer is that we all have those blessings from God that are beyond articulation and too sacred to risk profaning. May we all be pregnant with the mysterious blessings of God, planted in us until it is time for their birth. May we believe the promises and guard them until they are made known to all.

Cleveland, Tennessee
December 23, 2010
JDJ

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful, just wonderful.
Cheryl