In the fullness of time, God….Galatians 4:4

This verse that is found in Galatians is one that I love. Another version of the verse says “At just the right time, God…”It speaks to me of how amazing God is and how He works everything out and leaves nothing to chance. It has always given me a sense that He is in control. I’ve realized though that I have always looked at this verse from the other side- the one that can see how the “Fullness of Time” was so perfectly worked out in Jesus.

When I look at it from how this truth is worked out in my own life, how just at the right time God… it hasn’t been so easy. The boot is now on the other foot, I’m the one waiting for “just the right time, God.” The past few years have been testing ones for a number or reasons. In particular we’d both reached a crossroads in our lives. What to do next? Not uncommon at our stage of life. There were many, many times that I have just wished something would happen that would make the future more clear. In wading through (that’s what it felt like) the various stresses it seemed that there was no end in sight. However that began to change once Al and I decided that the next step would be our African overland adventure. It has become clear that whilst we thought the heavens were silent and that God was ignoring us, He was in fact very busy working in us to bring us to the point where we could decide on our next step.

This reminds me that we’re not the ones making things happen. There are two parts to this verse, the right time and God. God is the one who brings it all together and I am being reminded to trust Him and wait for the rest. There were many people who trusted God and never saw Jesus and I think that, trusting, knowing the one you trust was the key to how they never lost hope. He was their focus and not circumstances. My confidence had been in our own ability, how I would “fix” things and that when the next step was revealed we would do it. However I’m discovering for myself that at this time, my trust is growing in the one who knows it all. The focus not on what I must do, but rather on the one who will enable me, who will bring it all together at JUST THE RIGHT TIME!

This African trip has been a dream of ours for about 15 years. We have watched others go and come back, but never been the ones going until now. It feels now that “in the fullness of time, God” has enabled us to go.