Answered prayers are sometimes long in coming

First it's important to know I love the white sands of a beach. I can sit for hours just watching the waves move back and forth quietly bringing water in and out in a rhythmic pattern. I marvel at how God set that in motion in the beginning and the waters still flow in that pattern God created long ago.

Back in the mid-80's Dane and I made a one-day trip to Key West to visit a relative. We were returning from a three-week journey to The Dominican Republic to serve with a missionary couple from the church Dane and I ministered to in Illinois. I hadn't seen the Florida Keys before. The waters were breathtaking and the beaches so beckoning.

But............time was short - just enough time to travel down, visit and travel back and catch a flight home. One beach in particular caught my eye. It looked just like the postcards and ads so often enticing people to come wiggle their toes in the white sands. No time to stop at the beach. I was disappointed, angry and sullen at God, asking if I'd ever get to spend time on a Florida beach.

Yesterday I spent several hours sitting on a beach in the Florida Keys, watching the waves move in and out just as they have since The Garden. I had plenty of time to enjoy the warmth, the water and the wonder of it all.

Today as I drove back from a quick run to the grocery store, my eye caught that very beach I enjoyed yesterday and God reminded me that was the very beach I mourned not being able to visit some 30 years ago. I was reminded that God is faithful, even in the small and sometimes very earthly requests I ask of Him. It's been a long time coming, but here I am resting on the very beach I longed for many years ago.

God is faithful in His answers to me though they don't always come in my timing and not always as I've asked and there are yet some that He hasn't answered at all. I'm still waiting. I'll sit awhile and wiggle my toes in the white sand while I believe, trust and hope.

Paradise - a fleeting illusion

Paradise – a fleeting illusion.

The waters and winds are warm under the ever-present sun. The jades, greens, blues and turquoises of the ocean and bay waters are so vivid, even Crayola can’t copy them. Life is slow, fun, full of community and activity and stress and responsibilities are greatly eased. Life is good – paradise is found… well... maybe momentarily, but true paradise isn’t here on earth.

It’s impossible to escape difficult and hurtful things. While we bask here in a temporal paradise, life’s trials go on.

Earlier this week our son stopped two robbers from getting very much of their personal belongings. We’re proud of his strength and agility to capture one. He had the other as well, but the robber’s blow to our son’s head left a gash above his eye that took 6 internal and 5 outside stitches to close the wound. We are grateful for God’s protection over him and his family and an blow to his head that missed his eye.

Missionary friends of ours live in Ecuador. Their daughter and son-in-law (Andy) and two young grandsons are missionaries in Russia. Early this week Andy fell during a hiking incident. He has multiple broken bones including a leg and ankle but his most serious injuries are massive injuries to his face. After several days of consultation and work with their insurance company, Andy has been air lifted to Turkey and underwent the first of multiple surgeries over the next week or so on his face, and other broken bones which need resetting and pinning. As parents our hearts are with Andy’s families as they pray and wait many miles away from where Andy is receiving care.

So………..yes, life is a momentary and fleeting paradise at times, but true paradise lies at the end of this earthly journey. I will savor the moments here while being ever aware that true serenity lies beyond my earthly binding.