Have you ever experienced a significant event in your life that seemed to happen at the worst time possible?

Even as students, projects pop up or accidents happen that seem to come at just the wrong time. Maybe it’s that one Artist Series that you just wish would disappear because your week is too busy (some people got their wish this January).

This was me in high school during the fall of 2019, when my family went through a trial that tested our faith.

It was a regular school night in balmy Miami, Florida. Dad had been home for a while and dinner was finished, so now it was time to procrastinate for a few hours, watch some ball games and start on Advanced Placement U.S. History homework once everyone else had gone to bed.

At dinner, Dad was quieter than usual, and once we finished eating we were summoned to the living room for a “family meeting.”

We knew what was coming. We just felt it. And it had happened before. Multiple times. And each time felt more and more difficult.

My brother and I almost tried to guess where it was going to be this time before our parents even broke the news.

Indeed, we were right. We were moving to Virginia. Well, at least Dad was for work. But why? Why now?

There could not have been a worse time for Dad to get up and move 15 hours away from the family.

It was my senior year, school was starting up and we hadn’t even been in Miami for that long anyway.

We felt somewhat heartbroken. Verses like Psalm 56:3 would occasionally pop in my head: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” We had weathered storms like this before; however, going through it again did not sound ideal.

Dad ended up leaving in the fall of 2019, and we moved to a new neighborhood to live in a smaller house until we all joined him the following summer.

As you know, 2020 brought with it a widespread virus commonly known as the coronavirus or COVID-19, which made things even more dull with the family being apart.

These long months marked a trial in our family that will forever be a sad one, and finally joining our dad in Charlottesville, Virginia, after the school year ended was relieving.

“Why the sob story?” you may ask. The wild part about all this is that I believe this was God’s plan all along. Breaking the family apart for a little while made us stronger and ended up being one of the greatest blessings that has happened to our family.

Once COVID-19 hit the East Coast, my dad’s branch almost completely shut down in Miami. This meant that his once secure position had been temporarily eliminated, which would have landed him out of a job for the foreseeable future.

God knew this, however, as He knows about all aspects of our lives, and by His grace protected our family by allowing Dad to continue working throughout the pandemic.

My friends, keep God’s timing a priority before your own. Let Him work in ways you could never imagine or foresee, and give Him all the glory! He is omniscient and caring, and if He cares for the tiny sparrow, He most definitely cares for you.

I am setting this thought in my mind going into this year, and I would love to see others do the same (Ps. 27:14)!