Links in the Chain

The subject of the sovereignty of God has been consuming me over the past several months. This is a truth that I know exists, just as I know gravity does. I'm not a scientist, (not in a million years!!), but my knowledge comes from experience. God's sovereignty in the lives of people, events, world affairs... co-exists with our ability to choose...whatever that choice may happen to be. There's a lot of times I don't understand it.

Many things have happened in the past week that address this struggle I've been trying to overcome. It is as if God is using important people in my life to affirm the acceptance of this truth and its consequences. Most aren't aware, but when linked together, as it intersects into my moment in time and experience, it is in my face. As if God is saying to me, Shari, do you get it? And if you get it, do you accept it as from My hand for your own good?

I've been studying the life of Joseph in a bible study over the past few weeks. I've come to the conclusion that no person in that story had their life turn out the way they expected it to be. Joseph still accepted the unexpected as part of God's plan--not just for himself, but for the beginning of the nation of Israel. He had perspective. I want that kind of outlook.

My cousin and his wife welcomed a new baby into their family one week ago. I saw them recently, a month away from delivering, and prayed for their family daily as the expectancy of childbirth loomed. Every day a prayer for acceptance of God's sovereignty being worked out in their lives. It's easier to pray it in someone else's life than my own.

The day after Aden's birth, as I'm cleaning house, the lyrics to a song pop out at me. The singer is Nichole Nordeman, "ironically enough" a friend of the very cousin I've been praying for! On her most recent cd she wrote a song entitled "Miles" about this very issue of acceptance of God's sovereignty. Not just acceptance, but how God enters into our pain when the experiences are not what we want...and how He enters into our joy with answered prayer...and how both are equally from His hand.

To wrap it all up, during the sermon on Sunday, parts of the text of Romans 8:18-27 were discussed. The context was our deepest longings...the Apostle Paul equates it with anticipation of birth...and the Spirt's role in our prayer life when it's just beyond words.

All of these experiences seemed to piggy back on each other for me over this past weekend.

I hope I'm growing.

I do see the links.