"AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME"

Paula marveled at the way God knows when to send a special gift of encouragement to us, “at just the right time." It might be in a dream, a lost letter, a memory, something found that we'd forgotten about, or something in His Word during a devotional that really speaks to us.

Paula’s grandmother was from a tiny northeastern Oklahoma town in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains . Summer after summer she enjoyed staying with her grandparents as a young child. She was from Tulsa and loved the small town they lived in. People knew everyone, their kids, their pets, their ancestors. The bond with them continued to grow as she grew and got older.

Grandma was always using her hands for something exciting. She would make little sandwiches and we'd have tea parties or she'd plant flowers and carefully tend them or she'd knit afghans for her grandchildren as well as making beautiful quilts for each one. Paula remembered the small thimble she would use while doing her needle work. Placing her thimble on her finger she'd remark, “I wouldn't want to sew without one”.

A few years ago when Paula’s grandma left this earth for her new residence in Heaven, Paula bid farewell to a loving grandmother. Paula was lamenting as to how quickly our lives can change. She and her grandmother just had tea together a couple of months earlier, on her 91st birthday. Paula missed her very much, but she noticed it mostly on a birthday, as there was no card from grandma. She'd never forgotten Paula’s birthday!

On one particular birthday when Paula was feeling a little low and a lot older something happened to make her feel like she was sharing that special day with her grandma. Paula was arranging some colorful pillows that her grandma had made, and suddenly she felt something inside one pillow, it was small and hard. Paula moved the object to a seam that she carefully opened, and to her delight out came a tiny silver thimble used by her grandma!

How happy Paula was to find something that had been a part of her grandma. Not realizing it had fallen off her finger, she pictured her sewing it in that little pillow that Paula just “happened” to fluff and place on her bedspread that day. She carefully laid the thimble on her night stand along side where she could continue to see the gift God chose to reveal to her.

What a precious memory of a very special lady who somehow, she knew, was laughing in delight at sewing her thimble inside her pillow. Paula heated the tea kettle and made some tea, using her best china, as grandma always did, and enjoyed her tea while staring at grandma's thimble recounting all of the precious memories they had made together. What a wonderful birthday surprise God provided for Paula.

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners." (Romans 5:6). Have you ever looked closely at an ear of corn? It is hard to believe all of those kernels grew from one tiny seed. Yet, any farmer will tell you the corn must be picked “at just the right time." Picked too soon and the corn is hard and not fit to eat. Picked too late and the corn is chewy without much taste.

God is the Master at picking the right time! Whether it be a precious memory of a grandma’s thimble or a Bible verse jumping out at us in a time of need or when the sin filled world needed the salvation of Christ to give us eternal forgiveness and victory over death. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Not only is God the Master at knowing the right time, He gives us a promise to do so without exception when He states ““At just the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen." (Isaiah 60:22)

Heavenly Father and Creator, thank You for knowing when we need something “at just the right time." Give us the wisdom to know if we readily eat and do not worry about the farmer picking the corn at just the right time, we need not waste a breath worrying about You picking the exact time to be there for us. When we are distraught or our backs are against the wall, never let us doubt if “Jesus is in Disguise” because we can still take comfort in trusting He knows when we need Him at just the right time, all of the time!