Waiting for Ephesians 3:20

By Dianne E. Butts –

Last month I told you about the short film I’d be making in February for the “168 Film Project” contest. As I write this, I can’t really report on that whole story because it is still in progress, so I’ll leave that for next month. This month, let me tell you a little of what’s been going through my mind during this whole exciting crazy adventure of faith.

I wonder if you’re like me. I like to plan. I like to know what’s happening. I like to figure things out in advance and then work the plan. But this whole act of faith thing, making a movie in a week adventure, hasn’t been like that exactly.

Yes, we’ve been making lots of plans. Yes, we’ve been working hard to get things in place so when the time comes for the camera to roll, we’ll be ready. But there is a ton that we can’t plan for.

We can’t write the story or script until we get our assigned Bible verse. So we can’t really know what we’re going to need. So we can’t get everything figured out. So I’m feeling a little crazy about it all.

This is where faith enters, right?

But my mind asks, Will God work everything out? Will He bring people to the fund-raiser dinner? Will that dinner make enough money to pull off this project? Will we be able to write a decent story? Will we find actors? What about props, make up, hair? I think we still need a gaffer. (Now, tell me again what a gaffer is?) What about…

Wait a minute. What happened to my faith walk? This is me, trying to do it all, trying to plan it all. But this is a faith walk, right? God will come through. I know He will.

Do you get like that? I do. When we can view the big picture from afar, we can say, “Sure. I know God will show up. He’ll work everything out. No need to worry.” But when we’re sitting in the middle of the chaos, and we need the funds, and we need the people, and we need so much and we can’t see where anything we need is going to come from…we feel a little panicky and wonder if God will really come through with everything we think we need.

If there’s one thing I’ve heard loud and clear from the good people at the “168 Film Project,” it is to trust that God will show up! He is in this project and we get to be amazed at what He will do for us as we pursue making a short film in a short time with a short budget based on His Word.

Based on His Word. How can you go wrong with that?

So as I lie awake at night wondering if anybody is going to show up at the fundraiser (Please, Lord. At least enough to pay for the spaghetti!), I remind myself over and over that this is what it’s like to live waiting for Ephesians 3:20:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV).

Immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…When we’re waiting on Ephesians 3:20, that’s what we’re waiting to witness. It will happen. God has promised.

“…to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:21).

May we each live this month expecting God to show up in Ephesians 3:20 ways!

Dianne is the author of the new book, Deliver Me: Hope, Help, & Healing through True Stories of Unplanned Pregnancy (www.DeliverMeBook.com) and an aspiring screenwriter. Her script, A Cowboy’s Faith, was inspired by a true story in her Deliver Me book and was a finalist in the 168 Project’s “Write of Passage” 2010 contest. (Currently a producer is talking with Dianne about making her script into a short film!) When she’s not writing, she enjoys riding her motorcycle with her husband, Hal, and gardening with her cat, P.C. in Colorado. www.DianneEButts.com