If we think about all the fretting we can allow ourselves to do, and when we hold our tendency to do this up next to the promises of God, it is surprising that we are not cured of worry forever. We should be. Everything about our lives is under His good design and care. He is preparing good things for us. REALLY good things.

Consider what Jesus told His disciples right after He  identified Judas as His betrayer and predicted that His friend Peter would deny Him three times. All the disciples must have been worried about what was coming. It was in that troubled moment that Jesus turned to comfort His confused disciples.

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” (John 14:1-4).

Jesus is preparing a place for each one of us, a mansion in fact. Even now, He is getting ready to receive us. This struck me particularly recently when a friend of mine was telling me about her new house. She did not think that a house so perfect for her very specific needs existed in our small town. When she and her husband met with the owners, they found out that the owners had meticulously planned this house, built it and lived in it for seven years before selling. The owner said something like, “It turns out, we built this house for you!” And they did, even though they did not know it at the time.

God is not only preparing things for us in this life, but He is also preparing us for eternity and eternity for us. We sometimes worry about what we are going to do at the next stage of life, but God is preparing it all for us right now. When we walk by faith, we believe that God is preparing for us. This is the best kind of comfort in all kinds of trials. Jesus knew His disciples were worried at His coming death. He comforted them that He was not leaving them, but going to get a place ready for them. And He promised to come back for them, and for us.

Where will we be in seven years or in seventy years? Someone, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,  is preparing a place for us, especially and specifically for us. This is why we can comfort our hearts and rest in contentment and peace, even when our lives are full of troubles.

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