God's Timing almost always is not Our Timing

Tonight I went to a wedding.  I have been to many weddings in my life, all of which has been beautiful.  Tonight I went to the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to not because the decorations were the best I had ever seen, or the bride looked the most beautiful, or the groom was the most handsome, or the weather was the most perfect, or the food was the best I had ever eaten.  In fact, I really paid less attention to any of these physical properties than I have at any wedding I have ever been to.  The wedding I went to tonight was a culmination of God's perfect timing.  It was the most beautiful event I have ever been to.  There were no physical bridesmaids, or physical groomsmen.  The witness that stood up with the bride and groom was the one and only God.  

The bride's son sat on the front row along with the parents of both the bride and groom.  There was not a dry eye in the audience.  The groom and bride walked out of the back of the house and ambled hand in hand dripping with joy to the alter of greenery over an archway.  God saw this day long ago and the happily ever after that it began for these two.  God wiped their tears individually for the past years as the wounds were deep and raw from failed marriages and previous spouses who taught them who NOT to marry. 

The bride is one of my best friends.  Not because we spend a lot of time together, that is not always necessary.  We have been to hell and back together in different situations, but we put our backs together through the rain and slept that way so neither one of our heads fell in the mud.  There has been a lot of mud for a lot of years.  When my mud dried and I was able to walk on dry land again, my best friend continued to struggle.  Some days we wondered if her misery would ever end.  If it wasn't flies it was ants. But faithful love is a friend just when hope seems to end, welcome face, sweet embrace, tender touch filled with grace.  Faithful love drowns each fear, reaches down, dries each tear, holds my hand when I can't stand on my own.

One day, a very handsome man who I have known my whole life and whose father was one of my Christian mentors growing up came in to Sunday school and sat next to my best friend.  By the time Sunday school was over, he was practically sitting in her seat with her.  Both happier than I had seen them in years.  My husband and I elbowed each other and snickered to ourselves without saying a word.  I couldn't tell you what that Bible class was about that day because I was watching what God was doing right in the row in front of me.  That prince and princess were married today with God in attendance.

The wedding was perfect, the decorations were perfect, the bride was the most beautiful, the groom most handsome, the food the greatest I ever tasted, because God blessed the broken road that led them straight to paradise.  I was blessed to be able to witness the culmination of years of heartache that gave way to God's perfect plan, God's perfect timing, God's perfect family.  It started to sprinkle rain during the ceremony, then it quit.  It reminded me of how many tears my friend and I have dried for each other over the years.  The rain stopped and so have the tears.  If ever there was a happily ever after, this is it.  Congratulations, my Friend on your happily ever after.  Sometimes we have to kiss some frogs to find our handsome prince.