No matter where you are on your journey, and whether you can sense the restorative power of the Lord or not, your story is not over. When [my wife] Cyd was growing up, struggling with feelings of inferiority and uncertainty because her father was not around, she couldn’t imagine that she would one day marry a man who loved her so deeply. When she was dating, watching her friends marry and start families of their own, she could have settled and compromised her heart as well as her faith. But she didn’t. She trusted God and waited on Him.
Certainly after I lost my [first] wife, I could easily have locked up my heart and refused to open it to anyone. I could’ve played the grieving victim of tragedy and wallowed in my sadness until it turned into self-pity and entitlement. I could’ve been afraid of what it would cost me to risk my heart and to love again. Or I had the option to trust God and what He had for me. To trust Him with whom He had for me.
Presents are meant to be accepted, and they’re meant to be opened. Once when I was at the mall with my boys at Christmas, we stopped in front of a store window. The display included a beautiful tree with dozens of perfectly wrapped presents beneath it. Seth asked me, “Dad, who are all those presents for?” I smiled and explained that they were empty boxes, just for decoration. He thought for a moment and said, “I’m so glad the presents I get have good things inside them!”
Seth had inadvertently stumbled onto a great piece of wisdom. Scripture tells us that if we who are flawed and sinful love to give our children good gifts, then how much more does our Father in heaven delight in giving us such presents (see Matthew 7:11). When we trust God, our box is never empty. He is always there for us. Even through the darkest night when nothing makes sense and no one else can comfort us, He remains the same. His love is constant. We only have to say yes to the present that He holds before us.
The timing may surprise us, the messenger may surprise us, and the gift itself may not look the way we expected it to, but when it’s from God, we can trust that it’s the perfect gift for us. God has a present for you. Maybe you can’t see it yet, but it’s there, waiting for you. Keep going my friend — tear through the paper, untie the ribbon, and get to what’s waiting inside.
Ricky and Cyd Texada appear this Thursday on LIFE TODAY. Adapted from My Breaking Point, God’s Turning Point by Ricky Texada. Copyright ©2014 by Ricky Texada. Published by Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.
