I was sitting looking at a container full of tomatoes when a thought struck me.
Expecting an early frost, Elaine had picked all the tomatoes she could find on our plants and put them in the container. At first, all of them were green. After a few days, there was a twinge of red in a few of them. Now some are red, some are heading that way and lots are still pretty green.
I know that may not represent the basis for an earth-shaking revelation, but this is the thought I had.
We are always carrying in our hearts a sense of the purposes of God for our lives. Those include hopes and dreams for ourselves and our families. Many of you know that we have spent the summer fighting for our daughter’s fiancé to get into the country so she can enjoy her post-cancer recuperation as a married woman. We think we may almost be there. That’s an almost red tomato.
We’re hoping for God to bring new connections and opportunities out of the Covid desert we’ve been in. That tomato has a orangey tinge to it.
And we’re hoping for borders to open so we can resume travelling amongst the churches, people and Bible colleges that are part of our lives and our service to God. Right now, that tomato is pretty green.
Going back to my basket of tomatoes, the funny thing is that there was no way of predicting which would turn red first. They all started out in the same place. There must be some biological reason why they are now all different colours, but what it may be is lost on me. All I know is that the outcomes were unpredictable.
One of the hardest things about dealing with our hopes and aspirations is that factor of not knowing how it’s going to turn out and when. But the fact is some of your tomatoes are ripening. We just have to trust God that he knows best what order they come in. And we can learn to take encouragement from the fact that we can see him at work in one area of our lives, even if that isn’t the main thing we’re hoping for.
The truth is that while you’re contemplating your future in a mixture of hope, frustration and perhaps fear, God is at work in ways utterly beyond your control.
How we get through it is by doing what God told the people of Israel several millennia ago. The secret is found in one word: remember. Remember what God has done for you. Set up your pile of stones as a reminder. He who began a good work in you will surely bring it to completion.
And your tomatoes will ripen at exactly the right time.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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