Old Glasses and New Perspectives

It was just a simple pair of reading glasses, but I lost count of the many prayers I prayed over something so small and superficial. Days and weeks of prayers amid all the searching. Even a few prayers lingered a year later. 

I will be honest that there has been a thought tucked away in the back of my mind since I misplaced them. I even asked out loud a few times, “Why Lord, did you not help me find them?” I admit, others times, I pleaded, “Lord do you hear me when I pray?”

I had a newer pair, almost like them, but I liked the old worn pair better. I admit that even though I had hoped I would find them, I gave up hope that I would ever see them again after about a year.

But out of the blue, on a day I wasn’t looking for them, I found them. I can’t imagine how many times I have looked over them this past year. So near yet, never noticing them. I never truly lost them because my Heavenly Father knew where they were all along and had kept them safe.

I heard the Lord’s voice as soon as I saw them peeking at me from underneath the corner of a shoebox, “Sometimes you have to wait.” I understood right away what my heavenly Father meant. Encouragement on a day I needed it. His timing was perfect. 

For without even realizing it, I had started to become increasingly quick to assume things in “my own life” must not be as important to God anymore. Some longer waits had allowed for some doubt to find its way into my heart. So God saw that finding these seemingly unimportant glasses was important. Vital for me to know that nothing of actual importance is truly lost because of His extraordinary promise that says, “But I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” Micah 7:7 (CSB) God will always step in at the right time to guard a heart that truly belongs to Him. 

Every day things like a pair of misplaced glasses turn into teachable moments from an intentional God. First, He makes sure that as His children, we may not get everything we want just as we expect them. But more importantly, we understand the most valuable lessons in this life. Sometimes we all undergo waits. We encounter them not because our Heavenly Father doesn’t care but because of just how much he does. 

✨Waiting so He can teach us “to know” that He takes particular notice of even the insignificant things in our lives. That even extra pairs of glasses never escape our Father’s attentive eye. If he cares this much to carefully plan for the minor things of our lives, then how much more for the critical things in our lives that actually do matter. 

✨Waiting so He can teach us that His timing is perfect. Never late but always on time. Even when we think He has forgotten, He will answer in the most spectacular ways, leaving no doubt He was in the planning. He loves leaving His fingerprints so we can see. 

✨Waiting teaches us patience. Lessons that you can’t learn in a hurry. Even when we feel we can not wait another day, He will ignite us with His strength till the wait turns into a promise kept. Waiting builds up our faith muscles so the hard stuff in life can no longer steal our vision of hope or make us give up praying to a prayer-answering God.  

✨Waiting so we will come to trust in His care and love for us. Trust is like a beautiful flower that doesn’t spring up overnight but takes some time to grow. 

I don’t think it was a coincidence that God used a pair of glasses to help me see some very important things more clearly. Isn’t that what God’s word is for in the first place? To give us a more accurate view of life and everything in it. Only with God can an old pair of glasses equal new perspectives. 

I’ve worn my glasses all day. I’m glad I didn’t find them as soon as I asked. It meant more that I didn’t. Today was the day I had needed them to see things from a different perspective, and my Heavenly Father planned it that way. 

It makes me want to ask?… What have you been waiting for God to do for you? I can’t wait to hear how He answers and what He teaches you in your perfectly timed wait. 

Maybe even meet over coffee as friends and discuss our new perspectives of faith and hope our mighty God has given us. 

See you in the field,

Susan