God's Plan Does Not Have Coincidence...

But it does have free will.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him." - Romans 8:28

During this past week, our family experienced loss. My uncle passed away, suddenly. He was a husband, a son, a brother, a father, an uncle, a "Papa", and very much a friend to so many. The pastor at his service delivered a message about salvation. He talked of Jesus meeting us and walking us through the valley of the shadow of death. Then he read from John 14:1-6

'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.'

Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' 

Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'

I was thinking these last couple of days, there are so many coincidences. A coincidence that my mom and dad met through my uncle and had nearly crossed paths so many times before they did. What a coincidence that in college Jon and I had so many mutual friends but did not meet until our senior year. What a coincidence that _________. I feel like I am always saying, "what a coincidence!"

Those coincidences lead me to thinking about God's perfect timing. Nothing is a coincidence. The people that we meet in life and who impact us and touch are hearts are all placed there in God's perfect timing. He uses us to impact people that we may never even meet. But I really started thinking, "what if the decisions we make screw up God's perfect timing". I've been through that feeling in my gut many times and am always humbled back to the fact that I am human. I have absolutely no ability to screw up the plan of the Almighty Father. The Master Creator. He knew that I would be a sinner. He knows the exact day, hour, minute and second. He knows the depths of my heart and HE knit me together in my mother's womb. He knew I would be faced with decisions and He gave me the free will to make them on my own. Enter Satan, sin, regret, pain. Enter Jesus, repentance, reconciliation to the Father, and forgiveness. We can, and oh so likely will, continue to sin and screw up. To hurt ourselves, to hurt others, to fail to see what God has placed in front of us to do. But, we can seek His counsel, He left us His words through the Bible. If we turn to the Lord, if we accept God's sacrifice of his only son, He wipes away the past, if we ask for forgiveness and truly repent God will work it all together for the good of those who love Him. 

Nothing is a coincidence. He picked the date of our birth. He picked the date of our death. He knew that we would grieve, mourn, cry, and doubt. But He also knew that we would laugh, rejoice, and celebrate.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. - Psalm 34:18

There are things that I see the people I love going through that hurt. It breaks their hearts, and hurts to the core. And we can't understand. We say, "that's the first thing I am going to ask about when I get to heaven. I want to understand why I {he/she} is experiencing this, because it doesn't seem right."

I want those answers, but I think when we get to heaven we are going to be too busy to ask those questions. I think we'll be a bit pre-occupied with singing with choirs of angels. Hurriedly helping Jesus make sure that the rooms he has prepared for our loved ones are ready. Soaking up the comfort of resting in the arms of the Lord. 

I think a lot about how I want the people that I love so much to get to heaven before I do because I don't want to miss them if I get there first. The truth is, we will not feel that empty emotion in heaven. And when we get there, we won't have to wait very long for them to join us because life on earth is truly a blink of an eye. We are here to let the light of Jesus shine, because HE is the way, the truth and the life.