Some things are a straight up mystery. It’s a mystery how this is all going to work out for you. It’s a mystery when it will happen. You may think you know, but my sister, it’s all a mystery. You’ve been trying to understand things you were never meant to understand. And really, you’ve been trying to control things you simply aren’t equipped to control.



If you’ve been trying to will and force your way through this, my guess is you’re 2 things: Exhausted and disappointed. Am I right?



I don’t know how this is going to work out. It’s a mystery.



Mysteries are God’s to handle, not mine to try and control. Revelation 10: 7, “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.”



What in the world does that mean? Well my friends, that is what you call a MYSTERY. That’s the secret thoughts and plans of God, and you’re not God so you’re not in on the secret. His position is to KNOW, your position is to TRUST.



But sometimes a girl just wants to know WHEN … God, when are you going to make it happen? I know you’re going to use all of this for good, but when, God?



Have you heard my story of my timeline with God? I learned one of my greatest spiritual lessons so far in my life with this one. I have a family situation that I’ve been begging God to fix. I’ve offered him so many preferred plans of restoration. I mean really, I’ve even done the hard part of putting it all together step by step in a way that would be absolutely fantastic and I’ve turned it over to him to use my plan. I would say, “Lord, by Christmas, make it happen.” Christmas would come and go with absolutely no progress. So I would graciously extend my deadline with God and give him more time.



God was continually on an extension with me until finally one day the Lord said to me, “Pamela, take me off your timeline.” Then he asked me for 30. “I’ll do it in 30, will you trust me for 30?” I mean y’all, that could be 30 minutes, that could be 30 days … I’ve been waiting for nearly 6 years, so okay, I’ll make that deal. Lord, I’ll give you 30. Then, he revealed to me he was asking me for 30 years.



Will I trust God if I have to wait for 30 years? If this heartache and disappointment continues for 30 more years, will I still wake up and choose joy? Will I still show up and move forward without misery?



That day, I gave the Lord 30 … 30 years. And I’ve felt tremendous peace since. Nothing has gotten better, in fact in my human eyes, things have doubled down to be far worse, but it was not a battle for me to choose joy today because I’ve already embraced the mystery of it all.



If you’ve been asking God WHEN, here’s your answer, Sis. Jesus said in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”



LEAVE SPACE FOR GOD’S MYSTERY.



How? When? Why? That’s all a mystery. That’s God’s space. Trying to fill the mysterious space of God will only discourage you, disappoint you, and disillusion you.



Yesterday I was listening to a teaching of Lysa Terkurst and she said, “Leave room for the mystery of God”, and in that instant it’s as if the world stood still for me. I have a 30 year committed space for the unfolding of God’s mystery, and in that space the devil has been denied. He doesn’t get to play in my thoughts an...