Punctuation

I heard a speaker say something on the radio yesterday that caught my ear - "Don't put a period where God has put a comma," she said. When I heard that, it was if the Holy Spirit put His hand up and said, "STOP. I have something here for you. Listen." Then He brought to the forefront of my mind memories when I had put a period at certain points of my life - times when I felt stuck in the mire of my sin or stuck in the pain of a situation, times when I would become discouraged and convinced that nothing would ever change. Those were the times I had tried to take the pen out of the Author's hand and blotched my life's journal with a big black circle that signified the end. PERIOD.

But it wasn't the end. God had only put a comma there. He put it there because, in His mercy, He saw that I needed to rest, or that I wasn't ready for the next step, or that other things needed to fall into place as a part of His perfect plan for me. I had forgotten Phil. 1:6 - "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." (That's Kate's favorite verse, by the way.)

What is true in my life is also true in our client's lives. There are times when it may seem that they have stopped growing, stopped changing. It's easy during those times for both them and us to only see a period there. But it's not a period, it's a comma, a comma that God, the Author and FINISHER of their faith, has written there. See, God is interested in LASTING CHANGE, not in a quick fix. That's a good thing, of course...but the "downside" of lasting change is that is usually takes a long time! He is an eternal God, so when we can get glimpses of His work through His eternal eyes, it makes perfect sense. But, oh, those eternal glimpses are so rare, and they pass by so quickly!

As you pray for our clients this week, please pray that they will begin to see some of the commas that God is writing in their lives, instead of the periods they think are there. Ask Him to give them the faith to believe that He makes NO mistakes when He uses punctuation!