I have recently finished the book Daring to Hope by Katie Davis Majors, and WOW! What an amazing book that testifies to God’s goodness in and through it all. Such a powerful book and I strongly encourage everyone to read it! If you do happen to read it and come across pages 130-132, you will read a beautiful testimony of how intentional God is in every detail of our lives. The testimony is how God used Katie to welcome her sweet friend, Betty, into God’s arms. She was able to read a part of Revelations 21 over Betty and as she ended in “Amen” Betty breathed her last. She was taken into the Lord’s arms and brought into heaven. She was no longer suffering, but rejoicing with her Father. And how beautiful it must have been to witness and play a part in. And so began my inspiration for this blog as God began speaking to me through it.
I began my week with this reminder, of how God is beautifully intertwined in all of our lives. He is in every hurt and in every healing. He is in every mess and in every victory. He is in every cry and in every laugh. He is in every detail. Psalm 139 is such a beautiful description of just how much God is intertwined in our lives. Verse 13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” And in verse 3, it states, “You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.” From the very beginning of our lives God has been intertwined; so intimately involved. Even in the darkest places of our lives, when we feel no presence of God, He is still with us. “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light becomes night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is light to you” (verse 11-12). Nothing can keep Him from us. He is a God that is persistent and faithful and true. He will continue to pursue us and remind us how near He is. And He is so creative in showing us just how near He is.
In my bible reading I came across Luke 22:8-13, “Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.’ ‘Where do you want us to prepare for it?’ they asked. He replied, ‘As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.’ They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.” As I read this I was again reminded of how detailed God is in His workings; how specific and purposeful they are. Not only is he using Peter and John in preparing this Passover, but He brings in others to play a part in bringing it all together. And I am brought back to Katie Davis Majors and Betty and how God intertwined their lives to beautifully display His glory in life and in death. In her last chapter Katie states, “All our stories and the intricate way they have been woven together whisper of His glory, His wild pursuit of each of us. His unending grace and love and kindness reach to us, saving us, drawing us to Him. We can be mended only if we have been broken, and so often it is in the mending that we feel most clearly His tender heart toward us. Every detail of each story is His grace, His gift to remake us in His image and rename us: His” (page 193).
Have you ever received a random encouraging word from someone and it was exactly what you needed to hear? Or ever received a random gift on a really bad day that made it better? I say random, but really it is far from random. God sees our hurts and looks intently at our hearts. He knows what we need and He sends people our way to meet that need. These are ways He shows us that He is a personal, intimate God. It shows that He is still good even when things don’t go as we planned. We unfortunately will always face struggles in this broken world. But if we allow ourselves to see the work of His hands in every detail of our lives, we will start to see that even in the broken and hard places, He is still good; that He is making beauty from our ashes. Oh how beautifully intertwined He really is.
I pray that God would allow you to see His goodness in everything. I pray that you would see the work of His hands, even in the hurting places. And as you seek Him I pray you feel His presence near you, comforting you and loving you. I pray you would hold on to the truth that He is beautifully intertwined in every detail of your life.
God bless you!
Love,
theblessingsgirl
theblessingsgirl 