We often ask God to speak to us.  I’ve said before that God is speaking to us all the time.  Whether we hear him or not is just a matter of how well we’re listening at any given moment.

We have been getting into the rhythm of family life here in Honduras.  The house we’re renting feels like home.  Sam and Evie are comfortable enough to fall asleep in the car on a bumpy dirt road.  Stephanie is highly relied upon at the clinic.  And as I am becoming more comfortable in my still-new teaching job, I am realizing that the idea of a “slower” life here is only that… an idea.  There is just as much or more here to keep busy with as there was in the US.  Stephanie has been helping with medical brigades at the clinic for the past couple weeks, and we’ve had plenty of extracurricular things to add to our schedule like Bible study, birthday celebrations (including Stephanie’s), a staff retreat for the school, and everything else that goes into raising two kids.  Parent-teacher conferences are tomorrow, and this time I’m preparing as a teacher.  Our house is wonderful, but there’s still a lot we could do to make it more our own.  I want to read more, play soccer more, spend more time in prayer, spend more time with my kids, see more sights in Honduras, and really just do more… someday… when things slow down.

But there is no future date when things will “slow down.”  There’s not going to be extra time for all the things I want to do “in the future.”  “Someday” isn’t coming anytime soon.  In fact, it’s never coming the way I want it to.  However, the refreshing truth is that today can be “someday,” with God’s help.

One of the reasons we go through difficult circumstances in life is that we can’t handle what God wants to teach us all at once.  Remember that time is a construct created by God, just like space.  He gives us space to behold.  Space in our homes to move around and be comfortable.  The space of different geographies on this earth we can travel to and enjoy.  And the enormity of outer space which we can observe and contemplate and use to gain perspective on our very existence.

In the same way, he gives us the space of time.  We are eternal creatures currently trapped in temporal material bodies.  We need time to be able to process and enjoy our creator, even if we don’t always understand it… actually, that’s kind of the point.

So God has used my time in Honduras so far to teach me what goes something like this…

“Stop worrying about tomorrow.

Don’t even think about tomorrow.  Focus on today.

You don’t plan tomorrow, because you can’t.  I plan tomorrow, because I can.

Ok, you can start thinking about tomorrow, but only if it helps you rest in my power today.

Let the worry of tomorrow turn into comfort for today, as you embrace the fact that I hold your future in my hands.  Not only do I intend goodness and blessing for you, but I have the power to make it happen, and you have my promise that I will deliver.  Just take my grace today, accept it right now.”

God’s grace is what we all need.  And we need it right now.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you…’” – 2 Corinthians 12:9a

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.” – Titus 2:11

Just accept his grace.  It’s not just what you need… it’s everything you need.

One of the verses through which God spoke to me deeply before coming here was 1 Corinthians 2:9.  “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

The glory he has planned for our futures is unfathomable.  Certainly, in the next lifetime, but also in this one.

He reminded me of that sentiment through a couple of other scriptures recently.  Matthew 6:34a was in a devotional I heard in Spanish.  I don’t know what the devotional said, but the verse says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.”  And also John 1:50b, which was near (but not in) the text of a chapel message I was listening to, but I was distracted.  The message was in English, so I don’t have an excuse.  That verse says, “…thou shalt see greater things than these.”  As I looked around at the students in chapel knowing that God’s presence was upon us, I acknowledged all the incredible things that God has already done for us in Honduras, and I imagined all the wonders he plans to do in the lives of these students.

It’s like he’s saying to me and to all of us:

“Sure, I could tell you about tomorrow, I could tell you all about your future.  But if you’re serious about accepting my grace and putting your faith in me, then your future is going to be so incredible that you wouldn’t believe me anyway.  You’re gonna have to see it to believe it.”

So accept God’s grace.  Put your faith in his son Jesus.  And then let his Holy Spirit show you things you wouldn’t believe.

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