“For now we see through a glass darkly; but then we shall see face to face.”  (1Cor. 13:12)  And that’s why we walk by faith and not by sight; because our earthly, human sight isn’t all that clear or good.  We lack the perspective of the God we call “Abba, Father”.   “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:9)

But the night Carla shared her story with all of us there, we all caught a clear glimpse beyond the glass of our omnipotent God at work.  There was no reason for this revelation, this moment of mercy; in allowing us to see our God at work behind the scenes, connecting all the dots.  For the most part, ours is to obey and trust that God is using our obedience to accomplish His purposes, which are always good.  With the telling of Carla’s story however, our faith was given sight for a shining moment of encouragement and affirmation.  How kind of God to let us see His hand orchestrating every detail of every event that led up to the breathtaking revelation which concluded Carla’s story.

In our humanness, we like to think that we are making a difference, we want to know that what we do matters, at least to someone somewhere.  But we don’t always get to see the end results of our efforts, of our obedience or of our prayers. And we are not alone.

Abraham didn’t live to see that whole descendants numerous as the stars in the sky and grains of sand on the seashore thing that God had promised Him.  He and Sarah had only one son, (granted a miracle child what with Sarah being barren and well beyond child bearing years and Abraham being one hundred and all) but still not exactly off to a great start on that stars/sand promise.  Then Isaac had two sons, so at the time of Abraham’s death, he could count his descendants, he could count them on one hand.  From a human perspective, God’s promise to Abraham didn’t look all that plausible given the current circumstances.  It was off to a pretty slow start. Three kids in three generations? not very promising (even if Isaac was “the child of the promise”)  But Abraham had believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.

We have the advantage of hindsight when it comes to Abraham’s life, we can read all about it and see how it turns out.  But not so with our own lives.  We, like Abraham, have to obey and trust God to bring about the desired result.  Results that, just like Abraham, we don’t always get to see.  But God let Carla see a result this week at Camp Life and she shared her glimpse beyond the glass with the rest of us so that we could all be reminded just how incomparable, how indescribable, how compassionate, is the God that we belong to.

Carla had donated clothes, as many of us do from time to time, nine months ago. Her donated clothes were to be sent from Texas to Zambia, to be made available to the more than seven hundred children Family Legacy cares for in the Tree of Life Village.  Now, nine months later, Carla and her teenage daughter were here at Family Legacy’s Camp Life to spend the week with some of the children that Family Legacy serves.  In Carla’s group of little girls, there was one who was cold and needed a jacket.  When Carla asked for a jacket for this little girl, she was handed the same jacket she had donated nine months earlier! But this wasn’t just any jacket.  This had been her now teenage daughter, Lauren’s, favorite jacket when she was younger.  Now Lauren was here to see for herself, along with her mom, how God was using her jacket to show His love and care to a little girl on the other side of the world, named Peggy.

We don’t always get to see the end result of our obedience, but this day Carla and Lauren got to see what God did with their obedience.  “of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world . . . ”  (Casablanca)  Only one container of supplies had arrived out of all the containers shipped.  There are over seven hundred children in residential care and around seven hundred at Camp Life this week. And Peggy is in Carla’s group?  And Peggy gets that jacket?   Coincidence?  I think not.  Our culture may attempt to explain away God’s miracles by calling them coincidence, but God leaves no doubt. God left no doubt when He parted the Red Sea, He left no doubt when He raised Jesus from the grave and He left no doubt when He brought together Carla, Lauren, Peggy and a jacket that traveled round the world to arrive at the appointed time to clothe a chosen child.  God leaves no doubt that He is at work in our lives. He revealed Himself clearly through Carla’s experience, that each of us, for an instant, might see clearly beyond the glass for that moment.

And now back to walking by faith.  By faith we offer to God what we have.  Like Carla did.  Like the small boy with the fish and the loaves of bread did when Jesus needed to feed the thousands.  The boy offered to Jesus what he had, though it was clearly far, far short of what was needed to feed that many people.  Jesus took it and made it much more than enough.  He will do that with us too.  What we have to offer falls far short of the need.  But we are called to offer it up to Jesus anyway. He takes it and makes it not only sufficient for the need at hand but more than enough, pressed down and running over.

“In the same way, we can see and understand only a little about God now, as if we were peering at His reflection in a poor mirror; but someday we are going to see Him in His completeness, face to face.”  (1 Corinthians 13:12, Living Bible)

That night we all shared a glimpse beyond the glass through Carla’s story.  and I am grateful for that glimpse, grateful to be reminded that my God is at work behind the scenes, neither slumbering nor sleeping, working ALL things together for good and for His eternal purposes.

sincerely,      Grace Day