I had a good phone conversation with my oldest son this morning, the one who is a police officer.  He caught me up on what was going on in his life and I did as well and then we got around to more serious subjects.  He and his wife are in a small town right now and have made the decision to move to another state and a larger, more metropolitan city.  He feels like his life is in a holding pattern while he waits to be offered a position by another police force.

He told me about being turned down for a job that he really wanted and felt that he would get.  He feels like his resume has a lot of good work experience and training and that he should have been offered it; he was discouraged when he got turned down midway through the process.

We talked about faith and trusting God.  I told him about my “Go Big or Go Home” motto that I started using for myself with respect to trusting God for my future.

There was a period when I wanted to control my own life after things did not work out well with my daughter; God didn’t seem to be doing things the way I would have done them.  He brought pain into my life; why would I want that?  If I trusted God for the rest of my future, maybe He would let worse pain into my life and I had had enough of that.

Finally though, when the circumstances were just so far out of my control that it was statistically impossible to work out…needing to increase sales and bottom line numbers with the business when we were short staffed and drowning in the work load…I thought, well my way isn’t working.  What if I go “all in” and ask God to guide my (our) future and hold Him accountable for the promise He has made to always take care of those who trust in Him?

In my mind, I can picture standing before God (mere mortal me) in heaven and saying, “You know God, I went all in and trusted You with my whole heart, expecting that you would carry me through the tough parts of my life and You didn’t”.  That picture in my mind amuses me because in the first place, I would be too in awe to say that and in the second place, because it’s a moot point…if I totally trust, God will work out the tangled parts of my life.

I conveyed that idea to my son, of totally counting on God because somehow, someway He will accept the responsibility of that trust and figure out a way through the tough parts of life.  For my son, it is finding a job on a police force in the different city and state where his new wife longs to live (her sister lives there and is weeks away from having the first baby in their family).  For us, it’s what is next when someday we can get off the hamster wheel of long hours running the business.

There is a deadline for my son in the state he wants to move to; more than 3 years after his academy graduation, he would have to go back through again.  My son is holding on but would love it if “now” was the time for his answered prayer.

I get it.  God’s timing is different than our mere mortal time.  It’s hard to wait.  Really hard.  I sympathize with my son and I’m living a “waiting” period as well.

God’s timing is perfect.  If only we could be as perfect at the waiting part.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jer 29:11