Time - Day Four

“When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”  Luke 4:13

     Even the devil had to wait for an opportune time! One of God’s fallen angels had to wait. Because there is only one who controls time--God. God knows the hour of our birth, and the hour of our death. He knows our struggles, our triumphs, our hours of despair and our hours of happiness. And He knows best how long a human heart needs to heal.

     God crafted the human heart. He knows the physical workings and the spiritual/emotional workings. Time is not the enemy: time is the cure. Just like a broken bone needs to be set by a doctor and given time to knit itself back together; a heart needs to be set by the great Healer. Though an x-ray would not have shown the break in my heart, it was real. The pain in my chest was real. The nights I spent with a pillow curled to my chest in order to keep my heart from spilling out in pieces on the floor were real.

     I had to give my heart into an expert’s care. The bandages were invisible to the naked eye and took awhile to get in place. Hurting creatures react badly to anyone getting close to their wounded place. I was the same way. But consistent hugs from friends, long and strong and comforting, laid strips of gauze around the broken halves of my heart. Phone calls, cards, and prayers added the white tape to hold the gauze in place and yet allowed the break to breathe, not fester.

     The bandages got ripped off a few times that first long year, reopening the wound, but my dear God-sent friends who knew the process by now. They listened to me rant, rave, sob and all the while they began wrapping my heart again with their tender loving care.

     God is the only one who knows the opportune time to free me or you from the bandages. But when He does remove the last strips of gauze we will be stronger, healthier and more compassionate than ever before. I genuinely believe this to be true.

Practical steps: Receive the loving attention of friends and family. Make time for them. Accept their help and kindnesses. It’s a sweet salve that eases the ache of a broken heart.

Your thoughts: _________________________________________________

“By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Heb 11:11 NKJV