Have you ever found one of those temporary cartoon tattoos for children in a cereal box? Bella and I found one over the weekend and the picture was of characters from a movie she really enjoys. I sat her up on the kitchen counter so I could be close to the sink to get water to wet the sponge I needed to use to apply it to her arm.
First, I squinted at the tiny directions written on the back of the package. Why do they have to print things so small these days? I peeled the protective film from the front of the tattoo and placed it face down on her arm and started pressing the wet sponge against the backing to get the picture to release and attach to her arm. Her little eyes filled up with tears as she looked down at what I was doing. She saw a white rectangle of paper with the directions printed all over it instead of the picture she had imagined was going to be there. "No! No!", she cried and she tried to pull her arm back. This was not what she wanted at all!
"It's OK, Bella. This is how I need to do it. You need to be still and trust me so you won't mess this up. The picture will be there in a minute", I reassured her.
To her credit, she stopped crying and watched me intently as I continued the process. After a few seconds, I barely pulled back one edge just so she could see that the colors were beginning to be transferred to her skin. I kept applying pressure and dabbing the sponge on the paper until the entire backing was wet and the picture on the other side was totally complete and visible. Then I removed the paper and let her see the finished product. She beamed up at me and started talking about one character that was her favorite.
How often do we do this very thing with God? We have a dream - a picture of something we want to see in our lives. We know exactly how it should look. It will unfold in a certain way, on a particular timetable, marking specific milestones along the way. Then, when life starts veering off in another direction we panic. "God, this isn't how it's supposed to be!"
God hears us saying, "I'm supposed to be marrying this person, but now they've left me", or "We were supposed to have children by now, but we're having fertility issues", or "By now, I should have had a promotion at work", or "I should be further along in ministry at this point in my life", or any one of a hundred other things that we thought should be coming to pass.
We don't see as God sees. He says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways." (Isaiah 55:8) We look upon what is happening in our lives - at what God seems to be applying to our situation - and we're disappointed, scared, hurt, and so sure that God has really missed it. This wasn't what we prayed for, believed for, stood for, declared and decreed. Or was it?
Isaiah 46:9-10 says,
"Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
If we will do as I told Bella and be still and trust Him through the process, we may find that the picture He is applying to us is far more beautiful than the one we had imagined.
We will find Ephesians 3:20-21 to be true if we wait on Him.
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
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