Timing

~Six weeks ago, my friend’s cat got out of her house. It was on Halloween night. During all the opening and closing of the front door for the trick-o-treaters, the cat escaped. Well, her cat is an indoor cat. She doesn’t really know her way outdoors around the neighborhood. When my friend told me, she was heartbroken. I felt terrible for her. I don’t know what I would do if my dog got out. He is an indoor dog just like her cat. I started praying immediately for her cat’s safe return. So did my friend. I prayed every night. I started losing hope for my friend and her cat. About a month went by and there was still no word. I dreaded asking her if her cat had come home. I didn’t want to bring it up and upset her. She told me she was starting to think that her cat was either dead or someone picked her up and kept her. Those were exactly my thoughts as well. I just didn’t want to say it to her. That night, I gave one final desperate plea to God to please find her cat. I stopped asking her about her cat’s return and I stopped praying. I had given up hope along with my friend that her cat was ever going to come home again. It was time to start preparing our hearts for the worst.

~I saw my friend on December 11th. She said “You are not going to believe this?!” Of course, I was excited and asked what was the good news. I was shocked by her next words. She said, “My cat showed up. She is back home!” I said,“Your kidding??” How does that happen? It had been 6 weeks since her cat disappeared. I was honest with her and told her I stopped praying after 4 weeks. That I had given up. She admitted she had too. We just didn’t know of any instances where something like this occurs with a happy ending. I said to her, “God showed us, didn’t He? We gave up but He never did!” God did hear our prayers. Not only did he hear them but he answered them. What a lesson learned by both of us. God’s timing is on a whole different level than ours. He can still produce miracles. We called this her Christmas miracle. Protecting her cat from harm for 6 weeks until she came home is no small feat. There are busy roads nearby where the cat could have gotten run over. So many homes and neighborhoods nearby where someone could have stolen her. But, none of that happened. God had let no harm come to her cat. The cat is fine, no health problems.

~We should not give up on what the Lord can do in our lives. His timing just like His understanding is not ours to reason with. Our job is to have faith in Him long after we pray. Otherwise, they are empty words. What are we praying for if we truly believe God will not answer them? Even if what we are praying for is answered long after we think it should be, we should be thankful He answered them at all given the words in vain. The answer to our prayers may not always be apparent to us or given with our time frame, but God does have our best interests at heart. It is important to not lose sight of that. He is still trying to teach us even if we are not up to the learning curve. I used to pray for a cure for Lupus. I have changed my prayers to account for my current state of health. I now pray for relief from pain, for more good days than bad but I realized after my friend’s cat was found that I can and should still pray for a cure. Maybe there will not be a cure for me to benefit from. But, that shouldn’t stop my prayers for others. The cure will come in God’s time and I am okay with that.

LupusMariposa #GodsTimingIsPerfectTiming #KeepTheFaith #LupusButterflies