In the beginning, The Creator had the full image of The Word and not as we saw Jesus before the resurrection but as Jesus phase shifted with the manifestation of faith cum reality as He entered into His Glory with resurrection and ascension. [Think blueprints to an architect.]From our perspective it has taken around fifteen billion years to reach this reality and be passed on to the rest of God's Creation made in His image. From God's perspective the creating has taken roughly six and one half doublings of the Creation in which God is bringing forth His Glory.
When I first read Gerald Schroeder's explanation of this duality I was struck by the beauty of it, since it fit with one of my starting axioms, that God will not lie to us with the Bible, that we just do not comprehend how things reach entire truth expressed.
Put another way, God had in the beginning a being through Whom He would be manifested in the Creation He Creates, and a simple tweaking of the materials brings this being Whom God indwells into being in the Creation. With a bow to Alamo_Girl, God supplies the message and as Creator Sovereign has every right to tweak the message along the way, so that the creation brings forth what He, The Creator, intends and 'had' with Him in the Beginning.
I suppose it could be called 'guided evolution' ... but without a real analogy since even a sculptor must have materials from which to sculpt his works.
The Bible is unambiguous on the question: God performs many miracles, so why not expect "miracles" in the evolution of life on earth?
The answer is found in the definition of the word "miracle".
A "miracle" is an intervention by G*d intended to help its human witnesses achieve and increase their faith in Him.
So in eras and places where there were no humans, why would G*d ever need to perform a miracle?
Why not just let G*d's original plan play itself out, as intended?
After all, how could G*d be in such a hurry that He didn't have time for His natural processes to work?