From Chaos to Order...

I want to share with you something that has been on my heart for the last few weeks. It was a normal Monday night as I crawled into bed at the end of a long day of work; I shut my eyes and attempted to drift off to sleep. However, the Lord had other plans for me. In that moment the Lord so tenderly started speaking to my heart. As He spoke He gave me a picture of what He was trying to communicate to me.

There was this room with a huge pile of suitcases. I was standing over this pile of stuff, sifting through it and trying to make sense of what all it entailed. I soon realized that this pile represented my life. My past, present and future, times in my life that was full of joy and happiness, times that was full of doubt, despondency, trial, pain and difficulty. It entailed all my fears, failures, hopes and dreams.

As I was trying to figure out how all the circumstances in my life fit together in this heap, the Lord spoke again, “Stop. Give it to me. Let it go. Let it go.”

I froze. What did He mean? All of this was part of me. Let it go and give it to Him? I knew what He was asking and I knew what I had to do.

Then He showed me to a hallway where everything in that pile was perfectly aligned and in its place. It all fit perfectly in order.

“See, this is what I can do when you let go.” He spoke. “Let me make order out of your chaos.”

 As I looked down the hallway everything made sense. Every joy, trial, difficulty had purpose and meaning. Every hope and dream of the future had its place and perfect timing.

Then the Lord spoke to my heart again, “Do you trust Me? Do you trust Me? Do you trust Me?”

Again and again the Lord asked me that question. I was left speechless.

Do we trust Him? Do we live in the reality that He is truly Lord of all and knows every detail of our lives? Do we trust Him only if the outcome is in our favor? Will we trust Him even when hopes have died and what remains is brokenness and pain? Will we only trust Him on the mountaintops or will we trust Him in the depths?  Will we stay standing by the pile sifting through it attempting to understand and reason why certain things happen the way they do? Or will we surrender to the One who is ruling and reigning over our lives? Jesus, the One who has graciously ordained every moment for His glory. If we would only trust Him like He deserves! He is worthy!

My dear Elisabeth Elliot wrote in her book, “The Path of Loneliness”

“In our blindness we approach Him with suspicious reserve. We ask how much of our fun He intends to spoil, how much He will demand from us, how high is the price we must pay before He is placated. If we had the least notion of His lovingkindness and tender mercy, His fatherly care for His poor children, His generosity, and His beautiful plans for us. If we knew how patiently He waits for our turning to Him. How gently He means to lead us to green pastures and still waters. How carefully He is preparing a place for us. How ceaselessly He is ordering and ordaining and engineering His Master Plan for our good- if we had any inkling of all this, could would be reluctant to let go of our smashed dandelions or whatever we clutch so fiercely in our sweaty little hands?”

Let go.

Surrender.

Trust Him.

He will make order out of our chaos.