So, I have a ritual.

Every weekday, like clockwork, I drink one cup of coffee while I’m sitting in bed with my Bible and journal.

I drink another cup while I’m getting ready. (Which usually consists of throwing my hair in a messy bun and trying to convince myself a Needtobreathe t-shirt counts as office wear.)

And then, right before I head out the door, I pour a third cup of coffee in my dependable, purple travel mug.

That’s my ritual. Except, well, when it isn’t…i.e. when I forget my travel mug! Like I did the other day! I walked into my office, dropped my purse and phone and iPad and coat (yeah, I lug around way too much stuff) and promptly realized I’d left my faithful travel mug sitting on the kitchen counter.

I was, shall we say, a wee bit heartbroken. I count on that third cup of coffee! How was I supposed to start my workday without it? What would I sip on while checking emails and reviewing the barely legible post-it notes I’d written myself the day before?

Well, here’s the fun little thing that happened about five minutes after I sat down at my desk…I went to go stuff my purse in a desk drawer when I realized it was heavier than usual. I took a peek inside and what did I find?

Two cans of Diet Coke (not one, but two!) and a Hazelnut Vanilla K-Cup.

Definitely not the weirdest thing I’ve ever found in my purse (that honor goes to a jar of peanut butter)…but I just couldn’t help laughing. The one day I was deep in melodramatic mourning about forgetting my coffee and voilà, a whole purse full of caffeine!

Now here’s the thing, friends: I don’t always find spiritual lessons in such random nooks and crannies of everyday life. At least not so immediately as I did that day. But truly, by the time our office Keurig had finished sputtering and I took my first sip of that Hazelnut Vanilla coffee, it struck me: There’s a sliver of truth here… 

You see, there have been times in life when the season I’m in feels like a morning that’s missing its third cup of coffee. There’s some area of lack or discontent. The door I thought God was going to open is instead closed—closed tight—and I’m left standing in the hallway.

Have you been there? Have you been in that corridor of confusion…or longing…or hurt…or simple discontent?

I have.

But I’ve also had times when I’ve come out on the other side. I’ve had those moments when, at first, all I could see was my lack…but then, a little or perhaps a lot later, suddenly I’m the girl with the purse full of caffeine. i.e. The girl who comes through a disappointing season only to find the blessings multiplied on the other side. Where I had hoped for one open door and cried when it closed, God had prepared bigger and better doors than I could’ve imagined. 

Because that’s what God does. His dreams for us are always bigger than our own. And He is ever faithful to pave the way and stay by our side . . . even when we’re waiting in the hallway.

And here’s something I’m learning about that hallway of waiting . . . It’s not a place to rush through. I think sometimes that corridor is exactly where God wants us, because He’s preparing us. He’s teaching us what we need to know and growing us into the people we need to be so we can be ready for the open door to come.

That space in between the disappointment of a closed door and amazement at an open one you never dared to dream about . . . that’s where strength, maturity and grace are honed. 

I don’t want to be the girl who can only see her forgotten cup of coffee. I want to be the girl who believes, deep down, that when she waits . . . when she trusts . . . when she chooses faith over despair . . . eventually she’s going to open her purse and gasp in surprise and happiness. Because there is no lack in her life that can’t be filled to overflowing with a God like hers.

p.s. Guess what! The very first book in my Walker Family series, From the Start, is currently only 99¢ in e-book form! Check it out on Amazon, B&N or wherever you buy your e-books.

Plus! Two other books in the Walker series are on sale (Amazon only). Keep Holding On is just $2.99 and All This Time is $3.99. YAY for book sales! All sales end 4/10.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 
•