I go on drives ALL. THE. TIME. In the four-ish months since COVID-19 broke out, I've driven over 5,000 miles worth of circles, some big, some little. It's in my secret place, my car, where I have poured out my heart to God the most.
On one of those drives I glanced up through the sunroof and said "Hey God, I'd really just love to see some wildflowers. Will you do that, please?"
I soon came upon a field cloaked with sweet little white flowers. And then I came across another one. And another one. And another one. The beauty just got better and better with the passing of each field, until finally I had to pull over and soak it in. It was like God was showing off, just for me.
Matthew 6:28- says this:
"Why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you--you of little faith? So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."
This is one of my very favorite passages of Scripture. It's such a beautiful reminder to us all. We don't have to worry about where or how our needs will be met, because God is the ultimate provider for them all.
But as I was driving through the countless fields of wildflowers, I connected another thought to this passage. Not only is God going to provide for my every need, but He is going to do it in such a way that I will never be able to prepare myself for the beauty in which He does it.
So often we find ourselves envisioning how something--be it a relationship, a job, a lifestyle, whatever--is going to be. I don't know about you, but I am never even close to being right.
When I was preparing to go to college, I expected to end up in Radford, Virginia. When I tried out for the ETSU dance team, I was expecting to make it (not dislocate my knee in the middle of auditions and be out for the season). When I arrived in Uganda, I expected a life there that was very different from the life I actually got. And when I asked God to show me a field of flowers, for some reason I was expecting to see yellow ones.
Verse 32 says that God knows what we need. God doesn't have to give us what we want, but it brings Him so much joy to give us what we need. And He's not simply going to do the bare minimum, either. He's going to do it better. He longs to show off for us, to show us a life and a future far better than anything we can possibly imagine.
Over the past couple of months I have definitely found myself crafting an "ideal situation" in my head for what this next year is going to look like. That situation included studio plans and a new writing job and maybe a relationship but definitely oh so much glory for God in all of it. Let me be the first to tell you that I'm already way wrong.
But it's going to be so much better.
God is clothing me in new threads this season. I may not know what they look like yet, but I need not worry. I've always been a big fan of His style.