Gone at the age of 36.   He was in the prime of his life and about to become a father for the first time, but never got to meet his son.  The first few months after the death of our son Bryan were brutal.  There is no way to accurately describe the emotions and pain.

Like it or not, after a loved one dies, we have to keep moving.  I don’t mean that we will forget the person or the pain – trust me, you wish you could lose the sickening pain, but we have to keep living.  Part of that living is taking care of business.  After a death, one has to immediately be concerned about business matters.  It’s just part of the process.  As a mother, while I grieved deeply for my son, my attention was more drawn to his wife and unborn child.  We wanted to do everything we possibly could to help them with life, which meant lots of prayer, and assisting any way possible.

Bryan and Sarah had purchased a boat the summer before his home-going, and it needed to be sold.  People worked together to clean up the boat and get it ready for sale, and then to list it in several places.  I thought, surely because we serve God, it will sell by tomorrow afternoon. Not!  So we waited, and waited, and then guess what, we waited!

Sarah was having a baby shower in Virginia, and Gaylon and I were to attend.  As time grew a little closer, my husband realized he had a schedule conflict.   Gaylon was to perform a wedding for someone who worked with the company where he is chaplain. There was no way to change the wedding, and no way for Gaylon to accompany me to Virginia.  With tears streaming, I asked God, “Can’t you do something about this? Where are you during this pain? Can’t you keep these plans from getting so messed up?”  End of story.

That is the true story … but wait … let’s get the rest of the story.

That spring weekend, I drove to the shower, and Gaylon stayed behind to officiate the wedding.  While at the rehearsal, my husband was talking with someone, and they mentioned that they were looking for a boat.  Gaylon began to tell them the story of Bryan, and the boat that Sarah needed to sell – a boat that was five-hundred miles away.   As they continued talking, the person stated they wanted to buy the boat.

Gaylon called to tell me the good news, and this “faith-filled” woman of God said, “That man is not going to drive to North Carolina to get a boat that he has never laid eyes on.  I will believe it when I see it.”  (Just call me doubting Thomasina!)  In less than a month, the boat was sold and on its way from North Carolina to Alabama.

My problem was that I immediately put “THE END” on the story of an unsold boat and messed up plans.   I could not see God working in my messed up plans, but God was positioning us to receive the miraculous selling of a boat.  God was still writing the story.

God is the author of “the rest of the story.”  God has the wonderful ability of messing up our plans to position us for a divine answer.  Perhaps you are asking, “Where is God?”  I asked the same question.  The answer for me was, “I am at a wedding in Alabama working on your behalf.”

When you think your plans are messed up, it might be that God messed them up so He could write the last chapter.   Just wait … the rest of the story is being written, and it will be a much better “THE END” than the way you would write it.

“Since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” – Isaiah 64:4