One year ago today, Rob submitted his retirement packet to the Army. 365 days later, we are still waiting to find out if it will be approved or not. He has served 22 years, but the reality is the Army can deny a retirement request anytime before the person has served 30 years based on “needs of the Army”. We have been told not to expect an answer until May, so we are still waiting.
But we know we are not really waiting on the Army. We’re waiting on the Lord God. He already knows what is going to happen and he will reveal it to us when he is ready. Whatever his plan, and whichever direction he takes us, we will follow him and trust him.
The challenging part for me is the lack of planning. I like to be able to plan ahead. I’d like to know where I will be this Fall. Which state will I be living in? As different events come up for later in the year, I wonder if I’ll be able to attend them. It’s often just the little things that remind me that I am not in control.
I have complete faith that God’s ways are best and I know that he will be with us in whatever he calls us to do. I’m not even worried at all, because we have seen God work in our lives so much that I have no doubt he will lead us and provide what we need wherever we go. Where I struggle is just sitting back and waiting for the plan to be revealed. I’m just curious and eager to know what’s coming next, and if I’m honest, just a little impatient. But I’m working on it.
I know from personal experience that his timing even in the revealing of the plan is always perfect. I know there have been times in my life that if he had shown me the plan ahead of time, I would have worried about how it was going to work out. Or I might have altered my behavior in an effort to try to change the plan. I might have even run the other way away from his plan because I was scared. I don’t want to do that because I truly want to follow him. He knows us best and he knows the right time to show us the next step he wants us to take. In the meantime, he wants us to be still and know that he is God. He wants us to trust him with the very lives he gave us.
And once he does reveal the plan, he’ll guide us through the steps we need to take as we go from “Hurry up & wait”, to “The wait is over, now hurry up!”.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
(Isaish 55:8-9)