God Wastes Nothing

This probably won't be new information to most of you, but I am a firm believer in the power of a reminder! Whether this is new to you or merely a reminder, I hope it starts your Monday with some encouragement!

After my desert days (a decade ago now), one of my biggest prayers was that God would not let me forget the pain. It was more than fine with me if the pain lessened, of course, but I didn't want to forget it entirely. And as I made my way into a relationship with Ryan a couple of years later, I asked God to make sure I didn't forget what it had been like to be single. I didn't want to get so caught up in the answer to my prayer that I failed to relate to others still awaiting their answers.

But the truth is...

God wastes nothing.

We don't see most of His work while it's in progress. We plod along and live our days, and then a ways down the road, we look back and realize He was busy stacking up skills and lessons we would need for a future day. A day so in the future, we can't even fathom it.

This past week, I caught not one, but two glimpses into just how much He wasts nothing.

The first moment came Monday evening. One of our tenants had asked if I'd walk with her to Dollar General so she could get something she needed. I agreed, and we decided to meet at 7 p.m. to make our shopping pilgrimage. The skies began to cloud over, so I checked the weather. It looked like some pretty strong storms were due to roll in around 8, and I wasn't sure we could walk there, shop, and be home before 8. Since I wasn't eager to get caught outside in a strong thunderstorm, I told our tenant we could just drive instead of walk to make sure we were back well before bad weather hit.

But as we ambled down the sidewalk toward the van, the tornado sirens rolled to life. The skies didn't look any different than they had a few minutes ago, but I checked the weather again. A bright orange screen said TORNADO WARNING, so we did an about-face and headed back into the building.

Though I hate storms - tornadoes most of all - I felt remarkably calm in that moment. I was keenly aware that we were the leaders of the building, and the safety of all on our property ultimately fell to us. But you see, back in 2007, my sister and her family lost everything in a tornado, and in the months following, I learned so much about how to respond to storm warnings, get through a storm, and walk through the aftermath if the worst really does happen.

So I directed tenants on what to bring with them to the shelter. I gathered the things we needed. I stayed in contact with Ryan and our tenants away from the building. And when it was all over and we emerged unscathed (and thankful!), I began preparing some storm training to help teach others the same things I learned 13 years ago.

The second moment came a couple of days later, when another tenant, who was preparing to begin college, started talking about paperwork still in process for the upcoming adventure. I was sitting on the other side of the room, minding my own business when the conversation began, but I heard a couple of Financial-aid-ese words, and suddenly my head snapped up, and my full attention centered on the conversation across the room.

Before I realized what was happening, script-like sentences from my decade-old job surfaced, and I started talking in-depth about things I didn't even still know I knew in living color. For a moment, it felt like I was behind that desk in 240-F again, talking to incoming freshmen about the responsibilities of preparing financially for college.

If I really stopped and thought about it - I know I would come up with even more examples from this short time, where God has been so faithful to make moments from the past count for the present. He wastes nothing. He doesn't waste the big or the small.

He doesn't waste anything in your life, either. Everything you walk through is for some purpose. And now and then, you might just catch a glimpse of how He chooses to use it!