Defined, ebb and flow is a recurrent or rhythmical pattern of coming and going or decline and regrowth.

The frequently used phrase is used to describe something that changes in a regular and repeated way… the ebb and flow of fashion or the ebb and flow of human history. It’s like the predictable ebb and flow of traffic.

For example, the ebb of abandoned roadways very early in the morning when only the groundhogs and deer freely move about the asphalt. Then in short order, thoroughfares come alive as the great American workforce begins its faithful daily flow enabling the nation’s powerful economic wheels to turn.

The flow of traffic ebbs as there are the cautious navigators who make their passage with the greatest of care and precision. Then, the flow moves rather quickly as the aggressive sorts move with great haste and embody the old “drive it like you stole it” mentality.

You’ve gotta give them a wide berth, which also provides the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s finest with the best of vantage points to tame the more adventurous automobilists.

Interesting, but what about the ebb and flow of life… our life?

In the Old Testament book of Genesis, we meet a man by the name of Joseph, whose life had quite the full tank of ebb and flows.

His father gave him great favor, only to see his brothers despise and hate him.

He wound up in a slave-gang-caravan traveling all-the-way to Egypt only to be sold to the captain of the Egyptian guard.

While there, his status greatly improved as Potiphar (his new owner) promoted him to chief servant… only to have that violently stripped from him as Potiphar’s wife falsely-accused him.

He then ended up in prison chains, despised, alone and forgotten.

At each ebb and flow along the way, God was with Joseph.

It wasn’t long until he traded his prison jump suit for the fine royal linen. He turned in his shackles and chains, in exchange for a golden necklace. He resigned as the assistant to the prison warden, …and he accepted the new position of Pharaoh’s right hand man!

It was a day when God shuffled the circumstances in startling ways.

But isn’t it true that we have had similar experiences in our own lives?

Times when our lives have changed just as dramatically and as quickly?

How often were those moments the result of God’s handiwork?

God steps into the darkness and confusion and lifted us up.

Certainly, He does it when He forgives us and shares His loving kindness with us and we’re saved from our sin!

It also happens when His blessings are poured out on us and situations change dramatically for the good. Gloriously, the questions and doubts, the hurts and fear began to subside, drowned out by the Voice of God!

He seems to be saying…

“See! I’ve loved you all along!”

God has also shaped our lives in dramatic-ways as he opens doors for you, when he heals broken parts of your soul, when he restores your health or mends hurting relationships. When he blesses you in some incredible way.

Whenever life’s circumstances change, it gives an opportunity to hear God’s voice more clearly When we tune in to His voice, there is a peace that passes all understanding!

Elizabeth Elliot is a woman who knows about pain and loss. As a young wife and mother, she was serving as a missionary in the Ecuadorean jungles.

Her husband, Jim Elliot, and four other missionaries were trying to reach a remote tribe called the Aucas.

They had worked long and hard to build a relationship of trust with them. But one sunny day on the bank of a river where their plane had landed, people from the tribe speared and killed all of the missionaries.

It was an enormous tragedy, and one that could have left Elliot and the other wives wallowing in bitterness.

But that was not the kind of person Elizabeth was. She placed her trust in God and surrendered to God’s will for her life.

She describes the difference between resignation to despair, and a surrender to God who is loving and good: “Resignation is surrender to fate; acceptance is surrender to God. Resignation lies down quietly in an empty universe. Acceptance rises up to meet the God who fills that universe with purpose and destiny. Resignation says, ‘I can’t,’ and God says, ‘I can.’ Resignation says, ‘It’s all over for me.’ Acceptance asks, ‘Now that I’m here, Lord, what’s next?’ Resignation says, ‘What a waste.’

Acceptance says, ‘In what redemptive way can you use this mess, Lord?

Elizabeth went on to faithfully serve the Lord and witnessed the very people who killed her husband come to Christ.

Never allow the ebb and flow of life pull or push you away from God’s amazing plan for you!

Tim Throckmorton is the national director of Family Resource Council’s Community Impact Teams.