I Wish You Knew

I wish you knew, written by my friend, Teresa Branstetter Kimbel

I said to someone recently that whenever someone comes to me with a problem (and don’t think that I’m being arrogant here. Don’t think that I’m belittling him for not knowing what to do; I’m not) I want to say to him, “I wish you knew what I knew.” That once you go through Hell and back, when you’ve been in the valley, and now you’re not, when you’ve seen death, and now you don’t, that when you’ve lived with depression but it hasn’t defeated you, you’ve learned a lot of lessons that teach you that everything is going to be okay.

That God is in control and you don’t have to have answers, you just have to have the assurance that he does. That if you are walking in the light as he is in the light, that light will guide you down the right path that will not lead you in the wrong direction. That really knowing God is better than knowing why.

I don’t have the answer as to why I’ve coughed my head off since March or did my daddy die of a heart attack really, or did my mom really have true dementia or was it just a symptom of Parkinson’s. Period. I don’t have the answer as to why a friend can’t have a baby or why one gets pregnant and has a baby when she really doesn’t want one at all. I don’t have the answers to half my problems, but I do have assurance.

I have the assurance that one day faith that I have in Jesus now, will be sight over there; that one day there will be no more pain or death or dying or tears; that one day all the difficulties that man experiences here on earth will be over. I have the assurance that he who is in me is greater than he who is in the world; that all I’ve ever needed God has supplied; that today the sun will rise and that it will rise again tomorrow morning, if God says, “Rise.” I have the assurance that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is living in me. I have the assurance that the grace of God is greater than the most heinous sin man has ever committed. I have the assurance that one day all evil will be extinguished and only perfection will prevail. I have the assurance that Jesus died for me and that one day I can place my fingers in his nail-scarred hands and say, “Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for saving me when I would have been utterly lost without you.” I have the assurance that one day I will have a new body.

I don’t know what utterly lost feels like to you right now; only you know that. But I do know that if you look back and see how God has delivered you in the past, that you are right here, right now, for a reason, then he will deliver you in the future, maybe even today. Knowing the answers as to why, when, where, if, and how, are not nearly as important as knowing Him. God does not tell me what he will do, he tells me who he is. God does not tell me why he tells me to love him. God does not tell me when he tells me to wait and see. God does not tell me where he tells me to follow him. God does not say “if,” his love is unconditional. God does not tell me how, he says seek me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

With my God, I can scale a wall, being only 5’3″ inches tall. The size of the wall makes no difference when I have the assurance that he will give me the strength, according to its size. That’s why I can look at you and say, ” I wish you knew what I knew.” I don’t have to have answers when I have assurance in the one who does.