Places God Prepares — Week 3
By Reverend J. Carla Northcutt, Ed.D., Marietta, Georgia

“I go to prepare a place for you” might just be the most beautiful and hope-filled words in the English language (John 14:2).  Considering who spoke them and considering the fact that this place He is preparing is in His Father’s house, that is, heaven, we should have great confidence that Jesus is there now doing exactly what He said He was going to do—getting our rooms ready!

It’s a common thing to say when one is expecting houseguests:  “I’ll have your room ready when you get here.”  You might mean that you’ll freshen the bed linens, dust with extra care, put a fresh violet on the windowsill and make sure new soap is in the guest bathroom.

I don’t think that was what Jesus had in mind when He told His disciples that He was going away to “prepare a place for them.”  I’m thinking more on the order of jasper walls, gold streets and, personally, I would like a little amethyst trim here and there.

As His children we have that blessed hope in our future, that one day we will take ownership of the place He is preparing for us.  But while we are still living in these decaying clay bodies, I believe that He prepares places for us here.  These places, although nothing in comparison to heavenly mansions, are made holy by our presence in them.  They might even be called “divine appointments.”  Sometimes they may be “shady green pastures,” but at other times “a table in the presence of our enemy.”

I believe that most of these places are surprises to us, not that we are not prepared for them—God has been doing that all our lives, but they are places we weren’t expecting to go.  Has He ever led you down a path of sorrow to teach you that He is the Comforter?  Has He introduced you to illness to show you He is the Healer?  Has your journey taken you through times of great need so that you will know He is the Provider?

I think God takes us to places where He can show Himself mighty.  And if we doubt who He is in all His fullness, He will prepare a place for us to prove to us who He is.  It was the third night after emergency surgery to remove a large tumor that had ruptured in my abdomen.  I was sick, I was in terrific pain, and I was alone in a hospital room far away from my husband.

Suddenly in the very darkest part of the night, in a troubled dream, I found myself slipping, sliding into a long dark hole.  It was a well with seemingly no bottom.  There was nothing to grab hold of and there was no one to hear me scream, even if I could have managed a scream from my parched, sore throat.  I knew that when I reached the bottom, I would never be found.

I awoke sometime in this dark descent of my hazy, pain-induced nightmare to realize that I was safe and not lost.  I cried out to God, “O God, save me.”  I felt that I had literally hit “rock bottom.”  But then the sweet Holy Ghost rushed over me:  “When you have hit rock bottom, stand on the Rock, because that Rock is Jesus.”  Praise God, I was then and am now safe.

Yes, dear Sister, if the place that He’s prepared for you is hard, just remember He has also prepared you for the place.  He has been there before you.  He has been with you and continues to be with you. 

Thank you, God, that You have promised that You will never leave us nor forsake us.  Every place that I go, You have already been and have checked out the accommodations for me.  I cannot go anywhere and be away from Your presence.  Thank You, God, for Your omnipresent love.  Amen.

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