When We Are Given Perfectly Placed Relationships

As I climb out of the cloud of uncertainty that has been circling my life over the past few months and gain a better understanding of what kind of trial I’ve been asked to deal with it becomes more and more abundantly clear to me the exact people he placed in my life to be my community during this time. They came to me in the form of several different personalities. Friends and family members who I had a current surface level relationship with but who I would normally reach out to in confidence. Yet, in my darkest hours there they were, shining brighter than all the rest, drawing me close to them with their love, understanding, and compassion.

One person helped me weather the actual storm brewing around me. She wore her raincoat and tucked her jeans into galoshes, lent me her ear and stood by me with every wave that tried to knock me down. The other women were standing there when I started to regain my footing on the rocky shale of recovery. Each one so precious and perfectly placed exactly where I needed them to be at the exact moments that I needed them.

I would be in the smack dap in the middle of a panic episode and my phone would chime with a message “Hey, how are you? I just felt like the Lord wanted me to pray for you right now.” Or I would be standing at my kitchen sink fretting about something silly and that very friend would pull in the drive and walk up to the door with a vase of fresh eucalyptus. He freely and justly gave me what I needed at that exact moment I needed it. He gave me that comfort because He cares. Why? Because He sees the full picture of what He is trying to create in my life. He’s not zoomed in on this exact moment in my story, His telescope has a much wider angle. He’s calling out and saying “Look at me! Keep your eyes on me. There is a reason but you don’t need to know yet. Just trust.” He is constantly using others around me to remind me that when the enemy is in the water, just look up!

God gives us a community.

For example, again, this morning I was scrolling Facebook and reading things that were just fueling my anxiousness. I've tried to stay away from extra information about the 'pandemic' surrounding us but I also need to be informed. It's a double-edged sword for those of us that deal with fear and worry. So as my chest is starting to tighten and a lump is forming in the back of my throat my cell phone dings! There was a message, perfect timing. It said "Good Morning Tiff my friend, may you be encouraged this morning and not live in fear while those around us seem to be trembling...may we be beacons of peace, filled with the hope within us." Guys! She had no first-hand knowledge that I was about to hop on my hamster wheel of worry, but He knew and He placed me on her heart and because of that she sent me that message and saved me from myself. No one, I mean, no one but the Lord can do things like that in your life. No one else, but the Holy Spirit, knows exactly what our hearts need when they need it.

He sends people into our lives before we know we need them.  He sends them to walk alongside us, to relate to us, to reach out and extend a hand to help us. But not to do the actual work for us, that’s where we still need to lean on Him to help carry us. It kind of plays on like that Cheap Trick song from the 70s that repeats over and over-- “I want you to want me, I need you to need me, I'd love you to love me, I'm beggin' you to beg me.”

He just wants us to need Him, lean on Him and trust that he has our backs and best interest at heart. He will do good in His time. He knows me better than I know myself. It’s all hands on deck. We were not designed to do this alone. He wants us to use the community He gives us, and above of all-- lean on Him. 

Proverbs 8:17 (TPT) 

I will show my love to those who passionately love me. For they will search and search continually until they find me.