It's As Good as Done

We are doing a Bible study at church on Lysa TerKeurst's Uninvited book. She is reading my mail in that book because if there is one thing I am desperately guilty of, it's letting my emotions be dependent on my circumstances. This week in my AP class, we read Grendel. There is a passage in that book in which the main character overhears an explanation about the beginning of time and realizes that, "And I, Grendel, was the dark side, he said in effect. The terrible race God cursed.  I believed him. Such was the power of the Shaper's harp!" I wrote in the margin of that book that we are shaped by what others think of us. Those are my weak spots, my Achilles' heels. And I know that God knows that so well about me, probably gets so weary of hearing from me.

And yet He continues to reassure me, to comfort me, to remind me.

I wrote a week or so ago about being a Window Watcher. In that post, I claimed a verse to hold onto for as long as I needed it. {A little sidenote here: I was raised in church and I memorized many verses through the years. However, the idea of claiming verses and praying those verses, of letting Scripture be my very breath at times, is not intuitive to me. This is something that my pastor's wife, Dawn, and several books I have read in the past few years have taught me (The Circle Maker being most recent).} I have held onto that verse (I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you.) and it has been a comfort to me over the past week or two. I have repeated it in my spirit when I needed to (I have not repeated its "address", just the words of the verse-- this will be an important point in a few minutes). And some days I have been at the window and other days I have not.

Last night I was feeling extremely confident about our adoption and travel timeline. It had all the optimism of "there are still days left in March, things can move really fast, we are probably to the last step anyway and just don't know it yet". Then I got an email and my circumstances changed and so did my mood and feelings. We are NOT to the last step, we are STILL in limbo, and there are now NO days left in March. And it surely doesn't feel likely that things will move really fast. So just like that, I crashed. Today was a busy teaching day and so I didn't have a ton of time to sink into it, but my heart is low today. This morning on the way to school, I searched for a verse to hold onto, not finding anything in particular that struck me. At lunch, I searched some more. Still nothing. After school, though, just in browsing my instagram something jumped out at me.

It was Isaiah 46:11, the second half: "What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do."

Well ok, God. OK. I felt reassured and then decided to read the verse in context, search some for the story around those lines. What I found, when I went to the entire chapter, is that this verse is from the exact same chapter that God took me to last week (remember, I said I hadn't paid attention to its "address" this week as I repeated it to myself-- it took reading it in the chapter today to even realize I was in the same place). Last week, it was Isaiah 46:4. This week, Isaiah 46:11. It's such a brilliant narrative moment He orchestrated, this Author of my life, that He actually illustrated the message of the verse by taking me to the same chapter as before. He is just reminding me that these are not all singular moments! There is a plan. There is a will. There is a time. And He can see the entire continuum. And He is already at the end, too. He could have sent me ANY verse today, but He sent me one from the same neighborhood as the one from last week. Wow.

I looked up the entire chapter in The Message translation because I always enjoy reading it. I wanted to post a passage from it here.

8 "Think about this. Wrap your minds around it. This is serious business, rebels. Take it to heart. 9 Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have - incomparable, irreplaceable - 10 From the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen, Assuring you, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do,' 11 Calling that eagle, Cyrus, out of the east, from a far country the man I chose to help me. I've said it, and I'll most certainly do it. I've planned it, so it's as good as done. 

Think about this... 

wrap your minds around it... 

take it to heart... 

remember your history... 

assuring you, "I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do"... 

I've said it, and I'll most certainly do it... 

I've planned it, so it's as good as done.

It's as good as done. As good as done. As. good. as. done. DONE.

Selah.