“God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which he must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves” (A.W. Tozer).

I think the only deadlines we impose on God are the kind where our anxiety shouts at us that what we want or need must happen immediately or not at all. We view God in human terms and expect Him to act according to our timetable.

God is not on a schedule. He has no deadlines. He is never early nor is He late. His timing is always pinpoint perfect. That’s because we see in such a narrow window, while God looks through the broad scope of eternity.

When I remember that God is not obliged to meet my deadlines or my life will fall apart, then I can relax. When I recall that God is working not hurriedly but wholeheartedly, then I can rest. I can call to mind that God still has the whole world in His hands, including me and all my sometimes real, sometimes imagined worries.

When I worry, I doubt God’s goodness. When I choose the antidote to anxiety and choose to praise, then I remember.

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that” (Matthew 5:43-47, The Message).

“I have cast my anchor in the port of peace, knowing that present and future are in nail-pierced hands” (from The Valley of Vision).

I think outside the Bible, The Valley of Vision is my favorite book. It’s a collection of Puritan prayers (and man, did those Puritans know how to pray!) I think there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to who the Puritans were and how they lived — like the word puritannical. But that’s a topic for another day.

I love that my present and future are in nail-pierced hands. Jesus took the nails so I wouldn’t have to. He endured the cross in my place. Is there anything I need that He wouldn’t give me? Will there ever be a moment where I truly lack that He won’t provide?

I love that the glorified Jesus still bears the scars from those nails. Those scars are proof that He endured and overcame. He met death, the grave, and hell on their own terms and defeated them all forever. He showed that our own scars are not ugly mementoes but also the proof that we have overcome and lived to tell the tale.

Those nail-scarred hands are the hands that shaped the world and formed me in my mother’s womb. Those are the hands that healed the blind man and touched the leper. Those are the hands that welcomed the little children to come to Him. Those are the hands that stretched wide on an old rugged cross for you and me to take our sin and give us life.

Truly, my present and my future, my hopes and dreams, all of me is held by nail-scarred hands.