All in Good Time

In the early days of our marriage, I helped my husband perform the maintenance and repairs on our vehicles. This went on for several years until cars became more technological and we were able to afford a professional mechanic. The advances in automotive engineering continue to amaze me. Technicians diagnose problems by hooking computers to the engine, and many times an issue is solved by replacing a sensor or some other technical rather than mechanical part.

Even with all the progress in the automotive industry, the timing belt (or chain) in an automobile remains a crucial piece in its operation. Connecting the crankshaft to the camshaft which controls the opening and closing of the valves, as its name suggests, the belt ensures proper timing of the cylinders’ movements. If the belt breaks, catastrophe engine failure can occur. However, if you’re like me, you don’t give a lot of thought to what’s under the hood when you start your car. You assume the engine will turn over, and you can be on your way.

Sometimes it’s like that for me with regard to God’s timing. I take it for granted and think it perfect when it matches my plans.

Then a hitch occurs.

I have one idea about how a situation should work out (e.g. when my house will sell, when a manuscript will be accepted by a publisher, when a friend will recover from illness, etc.) and God has a different idea. He says, “no” or “wait.” Our timing is off, and I begin to question Him.

He asks me, as He did Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” But He also reminds me, “For I know the plans that I have for you…plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
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As I face the new year and consider what I’d like to accomplish personally, professionally, and spiritually during 2018, I can rest in the fact that God has my best interests at heart and that his timing is perfect.

“He has made everything appropriate in its time.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NASB)

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Linda Shenton Matchett

​With a BA in Psychology and Masters in Human Resource Management, Linda Matchett has had a wide and varied career as a crisis counselor, HR generalist, B&B owner and youth center director. She is currently the Front of House, Snackbar & Catering Manager at Brewster Academy. A journalist and blogger, she has written for numerous online and print publications. An author of Christian contemporary and historical fiction, Linda is also a a motivational speaker. Available topics include Life on the (WWII) Home Front, Wartime Baking, Women in the (WWII) Workforce, The Writer’s Life, God in the Workplace, The Proverbs 31 Gal: The Woman We Love to Hate, and Ruth: Lessons from a Foreigner. Linda is a member of First Baptist Church Wolfeboro where she sings in the choir and serves as Church Treasurer and a member of the Fellowship Team.