There’s a book in our book club that I’ve always wanted to read but just haven’t got around to it yet. Its called ‘The God of small things’. I have no idea what it is about but the title is certainly intriguing.
In reality however, I have just come face to face with the fact that our God is not a God of small things but a God of ALL things!
He can reach out and impact any aspect of our lives with His love and His peace, all to His glory. We don’t even have to ask him to. He Knows what we need before we even pray it.
I have just lived through an extraordinary weekend where I experienced Gods presence and intervention on so many accounts without asking for it even once – How much more could we live in peace and power and protection if we just ask!
The succession of unexpected events began to unfold when I received a call from a friend who needed a confident reminder of Gods faithfulness and favour. As she slowly covered the distance to her outlying home, the quietness of the car and the thoughts jumbling around in her head brought her to a place of panic and despair. Yet, the Lord kept bringing a picture of my face before her so she gave me a call mostly as an act of obedience. While chatting, the Lord showed us some real revelationary stuff – stuff that answered so many questions and brought peace and light and truth into both of our lives. The call also prompted a coffee visit as we would be in her neck of the woods over the weekend, and this face to face catch up time was such a blessing for both of us as God clearly reaffirm His will in our lives. The depth and clarity and conviction that God brought to our conversation, answered a whole season of prayers but the Lord graciously wrapped it all up in an hours coffee catch up.
On a personal note, I have been through a really tough time at work with my responsibilities escalating but my office hours remaining the same. To top it off, my husband and I have entered as a team to participate in a 4-day stage run and the training program has gained such momentum that it is impossible for me (and him) to keep up. In essence, we are horribly under-trained and as a result, loosing enthusiasm by the day. This is the very reason why I headed out for a 2 hour mountain run with my sister-in-law – she is leagues ahead of me in fitness but very patient and always encouraging us to take on an adventure such as this. Needless to say, we ended up getting horribly lost in the misty mountains of Hermanus as the rains came in and our two hour run turned into a 3 hour trek where our husbands had to find track us and direct us home using Google earth. The ordeal however had a very sweet end when my husband ran a hot bath for me to jump into the moment we arrived back at the house. This was an almighty act of love and came at a time when I really needed some TLC – the message of love and care was received not just on a tangible level but on an emotional level too.
On the spiritual front, I have been wrestling with whether I should consider returning to the Vineyard fellowship again, even if just for a season. Although my girls still love doing church at home, all my attempts at launching a home fellowship seemed to have collapsed and I found myself questioning whether this was a part of Gods plan from the start or my own personal plan? I had so much going on in my head but most of it was driven by guilt, which is my natural default setting. Through the ‘coffee catch up’ with my friend, the Lord showed me that it would be a blessing to include church in our family worship experience – not because I feel that I have to do this in order to look like I am living the good Christian life – but in order to enjoy the wonderful benefits of corporate worship, free of any legalism or guilt. It is so easy to default to our old patterns of thinking but God wants to transform us to free, relational worshippers in all ways on all days, inside and outside of church, inside and outside of family – essentially inside our hearts and beyond of ourselves.
To round off this wonderful weekend of revelation, our daughter woke on Saturday morning with a sore throat and a temperature. This was very unfortunate timing as we were leaving early that morning for our night away in Hermanus. Only one day away so we should be fine, I told myself. But her temperature remained to be unusually high and persisted for the whole day and night so that by the afternoon of the second day, I was feeling weary and panicked. Typically, it was Sunday so there were no doctors available, apart from the emergency outpatients at the hospital and we have done that one too many times, so I tried to be brave and began to emotionally gear up for a long night ahead. But by 5pm, the mommy guilt had set in good and proper so I went on line and booked an appointment for her to see a doctor first thing in the morning. At 8:30pm, I received what would be my ‘miraculous intervention’ from our doctor as God stepped in to take away my panic and guilt.
The doctor wanted to find out if I was booking a follow-up appointment for a previous issue that we had or if it was for something new. When I explained the situation, she said that it sounds as if it’s viral and she would expect the fever to break by morning and the symptoms to develop into a cold. If that was the case, she said that I would not even have to see the doctor. She had no idea how those simple words brought me so much peace and rest. How could she have known. But in that brief sms, she set all my concerns to rest. I would be able to sleep peacefully, next to the little one of course, trusting and believing that it was God’s kindness that inspired the doctor to message me, just so that I could be reassured that was not as serious as it seemed.
So, in the space of a weekend, the Lord showed me in so many ways how He really is the God of all things.
Not just the big things and not just the small things but the God of ALL things.
Thank you Father for this wonderful and very real reminder.