Man I like to be in control. Don’t you? I think one of the hardest things about being a Christian is turning over the wheel without taking it right back again. And the timing thing…God’s timing that is. How often is God’s clock running in the same time zone as ours? Almost never, in my experience. So, we’re supposed to take off our watches and sit in the back seat (without being a back-seat driver!). Why is this so difficult?

E just graduated this past week. When we started the process of college applications in the fall of last year, it was with eager anticipation. Which of the colleges would she choose to attend? She had a couple of favorites and was torn between which would be her new home for the next four years. I prayed when we sent them off, asking God to show us what avenue was in His will for her. Of course, I felt really good about the fact that we had given Him several options to choose from, all of which were just fine with us! :o) Isn’t that just like us humans to ask for God’s direction within the limited confines we set for Him?

As you might guess, the letters came slowly trickling in over a period of several months, until they were all finally in – every last one a rejection. It became very apparent that none of our choices were at all what God had in mind for E. We were stunned, as E is an honor-roll student. It was humbling and she was left not knowing what her next move should be. We were finally at a place where we were really listening for God because our attempts to control things had come up empty.

After several more weeks of no real answers, a friend of E’s mentioned a small four-year college just 2 1/2 hours south of here. It was really late to be applying, but we decided to give it a shot. The day before graduation, and the day of her graduation dinner with her grandparents, her letter came. I read it and when I saw the response, I carefully wrapped it as a gift for her to open that night. Needless to say it was quite a celebration and such a gift to her to know where she was going when she exited the graduation stage the next evening.

God’s timing. Couldn’t He have just nudged us in the right direction to begin with and saved us all the anxiety and the waiting and, ultimately, the rejection? Of course. But all of us would’ve missed what it really means to let God take the wheel and trust Him to navigate – knowing that He’s the one who created the map. We would’ve missed the blessing in receiving our answer at just the right moment, when there would be no mistake Who was giving it to us…an answer and a lesson that came all in Good Time.