Better Things Ahead - Martin Wiles

For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:40 NLT

A good friend kept telling me, “There are better things ahead,” but I couldn’t see them. Losing a job and a career when you’re over 50 is tough. Few employers want over 50 employees unless they are of retirement age or are just looking for a few part-time hours to supplement their Social Security. 

I didn’t need a supplement. I needed a full-time job that would pay the bills. Rejection after rejection came. Over qualified. Under qualified. Though they wouldn’t say it, prospective employers didn’t want to spend their time training me when I’d be retiring in a few years or perhaps moving back into my preferred profession. 

I kept the faith, and eventually things did get better. I found a job doing what I loved. God knew all along things were going to improve; I simply had to trust he did. 

The catalogue list of what has happened to believers throughout history is extensive: sawn in two, fed to the lions, beheaded, imprisoned, beaten, ridiculed, burned at the stake, stoned, slain with swords. But they endured because they believed something better was ahead. 

When the walls of life crumble, faith is required. Perhaps I’ll never find myself being subjected to some of the early methods of persecuting Christians, but the challenges remain. Trials will come. How I view them will determine my response and possibly the outcome. 

Faith in God will help me keep my focus that he’s in control of the trial, its length, and its purpose. God’s gift of faith and strength gives me an inner fortitude I can’t find anywhere else but that only comes one day at a time. I can’t see the better thing that’s ahead, but I’m confident it’s there. God’s agenda is different than mine. He makes his own hours and formulates his own calendars without asking for my help. 

The tunnels of life can be dark, but there’s always an opening at the far end with a brighter light than existed at the entrance. 

Are you trusting God’s promises of better things ahead? 

Prayer: Father, give us faith to trust Your agenda even when we can’t see it. 

Encouraging Tweet: The tunnels of life can be dark, but there’s always an opening.

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