There is a time for everything we experience in life. God knows what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. He knows that there is an appointed time for every single thing under heaven. Nothing is new to him. All the seasons of life are normal parts of our days.

God is with us through it all. He is there with us in every moment.

He has a time for everything.

I was reading Ecclesiastes 3 this morning and reminded of a sweet moment early in our missions career. We were traveling from church to church during our first support raising venture. We’d been in the van all day and the girls, who were pretty young at the time, were ready to run, move, play and use up some energy.

The missions director for the church we were visiting was explaining to me how the night would go, where we could put up our table, how long Jeremy would have to speak and that everyone would want to ask questions at the end of the night.

As she was sharing this information, I could hear the girls running behind me. In church. Loudly.

I peeked back over my shoulder to see Annalise scrambling over a row of chairs, Elayna running around the chairs and Abby crawling on her belly under the chairs.

I turned back, smiled at the missions director and excused myself to go handle my rambunctious Goodwin girls.

With a mom look they know well, all three slowly walked to the back of the church where I was standing.

I sat them down on a bench by the door and reminded them that they aren’t allowed to run in church. I encouraged them that their classes would be starting soon but until people started arriving, they needed to sit still and wait patiently.

It was like I’d pronounced the worst punishment ever.

I said, “You can play Eye Spy, you can play the alphabet game, you can sit quietly… whatever you need to do but you need to be quiet and sit here until church starts.”

As I walked back over to start setting up our table, I heard Annalise whisper angrily, “Eye spy with my little eye 3 bored little girls!!”

It was one of those mom moments that I know I’ll truly remember forever. It was perfect. I smiled and laughed to myself because they couldn’t see my face.

But a song began floating through my mind from our earlier van ride. Mandisa sings a song called “He is With You” and it happened to be Annalise’s favorite song. She would ask to hear it over and over and over. She called it the “time to time” song.

I walked back to the girls and said, “Remember the time to time song? I know we’ve talked about what it means before but I want you to think about it again. There really is a time for everything. A time to play. A time to climb and run. There is also a time to just sit. A time to be quiet and wait. This is one of those times, a time to entertain yourselves without running or playing or distracting.”

While I was explaining, I saw little light bulbs going off in their minds.

They were hearing me. They were getting this concept.

They were understanding that there is a time for everything to happen in life.

There are seasons. Seasons change. Moments come and go. What we are experiencing right now will fade and it will be time for something else to come our way.

God is orchestrating these times and changes of life. He promises to be with us through the transition of seasons. We can trust Him in the process.

Yet in that moment, Annalise piped up, “But we’re bored!”

Nodding my head, I said, “I know. Sometimes there is a time to be bored. You can handle it even though it’s hard. That’s what time it is right now.”

So they sat. They waited. They weren’t exactly happy about it but they obeyed.

Since that discussion about Mandisa’s song, we have had many, many more discussions about “time to time”.

I’ve begun using it in parenting, in mothering, in comforting, in balancing, in dealing with emotions, in helping them manage the moments of our busy days.

Why?

Because it is a simple, spiritual concept that we all must grasp.

We can see that this moment will pass and it will be time for something else.

We can understand that although I might not like this time, I can rest in knowing that another time will come.

We can trust that God is with us through every single season of life, both the good and the bad.

Using Ecclesiastes 3 and Mandisa’s song has been instrumental in teaching my girls to not dwell on what is happening right now. To not be discouraged about their circumstance.

It has also been instrumental in teaching me and in learning what a huge concept this is for all of us.

There truly is a time for all things.

To learn to sit. To wait. To be bored. To endure the hard moments. To keep focused on what is to come. To not be discouraged in the bad times but to know that this season will change into another and life will again be fun.

To trust that God is present through every single time and season.

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…” Isaiah 43:2

Times to laugh and cry. Times to plant and tear up. Times to speak and times to be silent.

Times to move to another country or change ministry positions or start a new work in a hard place.

Times to sit by the pool, go for a run, read a book or watch Netflix.

Times to learn and grow. Times to put it all into practice.

To know that He is writing this story, that every single page of our lives is directed, orchestrated and engineered by His gracious hand.

To know that He will get us through this time and into the next.

He is our Heavenly Father saying, “This is a time, a season. It will pass. Trust me.”

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Are you relearning this lesson? Did you need a reminder that there is a time for everything? What is God showing you in the season of this moment?