God, the Master Orchestrator...

    Last week I introduced Hannah, the heroine of the movie “Overcomer.” I focused on her challenges and the fact that they did not stop God from doing great things in and through her. This week I want to delve a little deeper into her story because there is a lot more to be learned from all that she went through. 
    Hannah lived with her grandmother. She had lost her mother and had been abandoned by her father years before. She harboured a desperate yet secret need for a relationship with her father, one that seemed completely out of her reach. Her grandmother could not always be there for her because she had to work, so, she was constantly alone with no friends at her new school.
    One day, her new cross country coach, John, while on a hospital visit to check on a church member, met and became friends with another patient at the hospital. That patient turned out to be Hannah’s father. He too had a desperate desire to reunite with the daughter he had abandoned years before and with John’s help, this became a reality. Ironically, he was also able to help coach his daughter for her upcoming race because he too had been a runner.
    What I like about this is the reality of how God operates in our lives. Even when we are not seeing Him working, He is. He was working and putting things in place in both of their lives and neither of them knew it. God was literally orchestrating everything so that not only would they be reunited but they would receive the secret desire of each of their hearts - to have a relationship with the other. He put the people and things in place just so that they could have the relationship that they always dreamed of. I see God as a master orchestrator, setting things up and putting things in place to bring about His wonderful purpose and plan for our lives. 
    His Word says that all things work together for good for those of us who are His own (Romans 8:28). Both Hannah and her father had given their hearts to God and they were able to see how that same God loves them so much that He put things in place to give them the relationship with each other they always wanted, even if for a brief time. Hannah’s father went on to be with the Lord some weeks after their meeting. They were the best weeks of her life and she was able to carry the memory of them with her even after he was gone. 
    We can’t always see God working. Sometimes, we get discouraged, even angry with God because He seems to be silent and still. But, He isn’t! This is where trust in Him while we wait becomes so important. The waiting process isn’t ever an easy one but while we wait we can learn to trust, we can learn to worship, we can learn to hold on to His Word like a lifeline. We can hold on to those promises He has given us for that season knowing that in Him all His promises are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). I guess that’s how it was for the children of Israel on their way to the Promised Land. During the journey they became discouraged and they complained and complained. They sinned against God because they chose to worry instead of trust Him. 
    When we cannot see how things are going to work out, it can be so easy to shift our focus away from God and His Word and to put it on the problem. Just like Peter, we take our eyes off of Jesus and unfortunately we start to sink - sink into depression, sink into despair, sink into negativity, sink into disbelief. The nice thing is, when we cry out to God as we are sinking, He immediately reaches out and rescues us (Matthew 14:28-31).     
    God is still faithful. He knows how to orchestrate things to bring to pass His best for us. He knows how to use good and bad situations - like He did for Hannah and her father - to work out the best for us. With God, even a negative turns out to be a tool God uses to orchestrate His beautiful purpose for our lives. 
    Even as I go through my various seasons of waiting, I am encouraged when God reminds me that He is sustaining me in those seasons. I am not alone, I will make it, because my God is the One orchestrating it. He will do the same for you!
    If you have not accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour I encourage you to do so now. God is able to take everything in your life, both good and bad, and work it out for your good. God wants the best for you and He is the One person who knows exactly how to bring that to pass!

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