Waters Gone By

Then surely you could lift up your face without shame; yes, you could be steadfast, and not fear; Because you would forget your misery, and remember it as waters that have passed away, And your life would be brighter than noonday. Though you were dark, you would be like the morning.
Job 11:15-17

Just a week ago, I had been accepted to Western Kentucky University’s Graduate program. I was anxious and spent time preparing for my upcoming classes. That was only seven days ago.

Just a month ago, I sat in a church in West Tennessee completely filled with the Spirit. I witnessed praises and testimonies, hearts being changed, and lost being saved. Only thirty days since then.

Just six months ago, I lay on a hospital bed singing Amazing Grace, as I waited for my doctor to arrive with the same news he had told me two days before. Only six months ago, my child went to Heaven.

Just a year ago, my husband drove me to the Emergency Room as the pain in my lower abdomen increased. We waited hours to find out I had a ruptured cyst, and I would be missing a week or more of teaching Kindergarten. Just a year ago…

Just five years ago, I was starting my third year of college at WKU after having had a car wreck the year before. Just ten years ago, I was starting high school at Greenbrier and was busy trying to fit in. Just twenty years ago, I was starting Kindergarten at Watauga Elementary with white-blonde hair and snaggle teeth. All of this seems like yesterday, and yet so much has changed since then.

At five years old, I could have never guessed that God would completely guide my life these twenty years later. I wouldn’t be able to understand why I couldn’t go back to Graduate School or how I would come to marry a preacher. I would have been saddened to know of the death of my own baby, and I couldn’t imagine being a teacher missing school. I couldn’t picture the journey I would take to get to college or the years I would spend trying to make lifelong friends in high school. I could only see what was right in front of me.

Yet God knew. He had designed every year for me. He knew exactly how my hair would grow and why I didn’t need braces as a young child. God was there in my teenage years when I wasn’t making the friends I wanted because they weren’t the ones I would need. He also was there that afternoon on my lunch break as my head collided with the windshield, and He helped me to gain the courage to head back to Western. He planned my wedding and realized my first year of marriage wouldn’t be easy. He specifically intended for my miscarriage to teach me the blessing of children. God put me in churches to help me realize my responsibilities as a Christian and that sitting in my pew wasn’t enough. He also had that acceptance letter sent to my door, and He saw me when I didn’t pray about going back to school. God knew the changes that would take place.

In the times where everything changes, we are able to see God move. We are able to put the past behind us and realize they are simply as the waters gone by. Our futures look brighter when we are able to put in perspective the fact that God is in complete control, and that “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord… (Romans 8:28).” God knows the plans for your life, and no matter how rough they may be, He knows which stream He will take you down. He understands that there are rocks along the way, but the beauty that lies ahead of you is worth the wait.

Riding His Waves,
Jenna Johnson