The Comfort of Sovereignty

You may have noticed a theme in my last few posts: the sovereignty of God.  It is such a comfort to me to know that God is in control of every. single. thing.  There is much to be said about the subject, but for now I just want to share a link to a quote that sums it up so well.  Today's post at Girl Talk is short, but well worth reading!

Saw it Coming

A long time ago in a land far, far away (Florida), we had David, born right on his due date after 20 weeks of labor. (Don’t worry: I am nowhere near ready to write about our long and complicated child-bearing history, so that is not the point of this post.) It was the beginning of a baby parade that wound down just over seven years later when Daniel was born here in Minnesota. Now Daniel is seven, and we are fresh out of babies. We’re not even a parade any more. Just like that – seven years pass and things are totally different.

Now don’t get me wrong; I am not pining for the days of sweet babies and toddlers. I enjoyed those days immensely, but I thought I would miss them much more than I actually do. I am thankful that God gave me just as many of those sweet, trying days as He had planned for me. I’ve had just enough days with diapers to change (ten years straight!), just enough days of packing a huge bag before leaving the house. I’ve had just enough days of scheduling around naps, just enough days of saying, “Hold on to the cart” while trying to navigate the grocery store parking lot (in the snow). While I am sure I have not answered the “Are they all yours?” question for the last time, people ask that much less often now that the kids look more like a gang of friends than a pack of babies. “Who in her right mind would bring 5 kids under 8 years old to Sam’s Club if they were not all hers??” I wanted to scream more than once. And yes, we are aware of what causes that.

Cooking Up a Storm

Over the last month or so we have been trying to eat better for several reasons, not the least of which is that we are trying to diagnose some possible food sensitivities in one of the kids.  So we've been avoiding all things dairy and soy.  Most of us are still eating stand-alone dairy products, but anything prepared for the whole family is now milk- and soy-free, unless you count rice milk or almond milk as milk! 

As it turns out, every packaged food in the universe has either milk or soy, or both.  So this has pointed out to me just how much of that stuff we used to eat. I would have said it was not that much, but now that I have been forced to read every label I have noticed that is simply not true.   Even the foods I would not consider to be junk are full of junk.  I could not find a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread that does not have soy of some type; the few that do not, have milk.  Most have both.

Oh Boy...

We are in a season of birthdays here, with two boys' birthdays in a week and another coming three weeks after.  (And no, we didn't plan it that way!)  It's a fun time, though often hard on the diet (more cake and celebrating than we're used to).  This year we decided it was a good time to buy a group gift, for all five kids, a trampoline!  Yesterday afternoon was spent putting it together (after worship and a nice Sunday feast), which was just enough inspiration to get the four out of five kids who were sick off of the couch.

We each had a short turn jumping on it, and finished the construction phase just in time for those of us who were able to get to evening worship (a bit late).  So now it begins - we have a trampoline in the back yard.  It's a bit scary to me, although I personally have always wanted a trampoline.  I do find myself wondering who will break a bone first.

For everything there is a season...

What a week in the life of one small congregation!  One family lost a dear little one far too soon; another is rejoicing in the birth of a healthy baby, after a similar loss not two years ago.  All that following an Easter celebration coinciding with the anniversary of yet another loss of little ones.   God gives and God takes. We rejoice and we mourn.

And really, when you look around, you see that this goes on all the time, all around us. Some are sick and some are well. Some are too anxious to deal with life, while others are moving along happily, even if the two lives are not that different from an objective point of view. Some are too busy to rest; others are bored and desperate for work to do. One person begs God for something, while the next begs Him for the opposite. Only God knows which prayers to answer. Only He knows how those answers will mold us and shape us into His will for us. 

God does all His holy will for His own glory.  The sovereignty of God is what comforts me.  I am sure I do not know what I would do without that knowledge.  God has taken care of me all the days of my life, even the ones that rank as the worst.  He has given to me and taken from me.  And joy really does come in its time.  When I have gone through hard things it has seemed that life will never settle, will never be happy.  Yet time passes, and God's plan marches on.  The hard things are not forgotten, but our view changes over time. 

God has given me joy, and for that I  am so grateful.  But looking back over hard times I see that He was giving me joy then, too.  I have been blessed to have the joys and sorrows mingled in such a way that this many years later I can look back with joy.  Not everyone handles grief in the same way.  To some a much harder road is given.  We don't know why; only God knows His reasons.  But we know that He loves His children.  And I know that He loves me because of the way He has taken care of me, moving me along both in joy and in sorrow. 

To God be the glory!