Lamentations 3:25

This morning I had what I believe was my second epiphany - it felt bigger than the epiphanettes (mini-messages, not a chorus line) of the last couple of years.

My first and only epiphany occurred over a decade ago, while I sat at work, on a Friday afternoon. I was trying to get a computer to cooperate with me - it wouldn't - and I couldn't leave until it did. It was quiet, the lights in the office were off, the sun shone through the window in a bold ray, and I heard God tell me I should go to library school.

This second epiphany wasn't quite "You should go to library school." It came with no special lighting effects, no sense of quiet, no voice directly from God. It did, however, feel equally important and perhaps equally life-changing.

My brother gave me a framed, calligraphy quote not soon after our mother died - it's of the verse,

"The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him." Lamentations 3:25.

I have always wondered why he gave me that quote. There has never been a point when I've had warm, fuzzy feelings about it. It hasn't made sense to me. What? What are we waiting for? Who are we waiting for? What does that really mean? Hasn't the lord shown up already? Isn't he present all the time? I hung that quote up a few weeks ago. It has never graced the walls of my home. It has sat, and waited, in a drawer, on a shelf, in a box, it has inhabited many spaces, just not my heart or my vision.

Until. . . . I was in the bathroom getting ready for work this morning. While drying my hair, I was mulling over some events in my life. I have been beating myself up too much about the fact that I sometimes have a hard time being patient, and that can lead to me "jumping the gun" on any number of fronts. It occurred to me that for once in my life, I am prepared to sit in discomfort instead of trying to solve a problem. I'll sit, and learn patience, and not look ahead, and . . . wait for God. At that point I looked over at that quote and "got it." It's the first time I've ever understood that verse.

The Lord will give me all that is wonderfully good including the support, joy, right thing, right heart, right person, right time, if . . . . I will wait, and not act, and let things happen on God's time.

The first epiphany went well. I heard from God. I acted. I got a library science degree. It led me to the best library a person could ever want to work at, in a beautiful place, surrounded by many wonderful co-workers, patrons, and friends.

This gives me faith that the second epiphany will go as well.

The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him.