God has a perfect plan for every aspect of our lives, including marriage. #theloriclineshow Interested in learning more about becoming a devoted follower of Christ? Go to follow.lifeword.org!   ~~~   Do you trust God with the timing of your love story? When my love story began it was not at all the timing I expected. I wasn’t really looking for it to start as soon as it did. I had fear issues. I knew I wanted to get married, but I was not attending college to get my M.R.S. degree as many girls apparently were. When I graduated high school I had a senior memory book. In addition to scrapbook pages and photo pockets were pages you could write out where you think you will be in five or ten years. Career, convertible and a little dog were at the top of my priority list. Marriage was a little later once I was established. Well, it didn’t go in that order. James 4:13-15 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” While I had a timeline of events planned out for my life, the Lord had other plans and I’m so glad He did. This month I’m celebrating thirty years of marriage to my best friend and yes we married before most of my plans happened. I did get that convertible though. It was awesome. God made it beautiful in HIS time and plan. Well you would’ve thought I learned my lesson about God’s timing, but as life goes, once again our plan was not God’s. When it came to having children, what we thought would happen in our plan and time, turned into twelve years of waiting. Once again, while we had a plan, it was the Lord’s timing. He makes all things beautiful in HIS time. Do you believe He is doing that in your life? It can be difficult to see the beautiful in life when it doesn’t look the way you planned. Still, God makes it beautiful as we trust Him with our story, even the broken and unexpected and untimely pieces of it. Over the years, in my walk with the Lord and in my marriage, I’ve found that something beautiful and something good has many times been something totally unexpected. Seasons of hurt, seasons of waiting, seasons of loss or letting go have been the unexpected places God grew something beautiful. God is good. If you believe that, trust Him with the timing of your story. It will be something beautiful even if it’s not what you expected. Romans 8:28 ​​And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Throughout my life and marriage, God has been working all things for my good. He has my heart. In our marriage we follow His leading and while we do make many plans, we trust His will to be done and His kingdom to come, in our lives and through, our story. Afterall, He does make ALL things beautiful, in His time. That’s the truth. Trust God with your story, every part of it. He will work all the unexpected delays, detours and valleys for your good because He IS good and like a friend reminded me recently, my story has already been written. I’m Lori Cline.