God is in the details
photo purchased from Shutterstock
God is in this story
God is in the details
Even in the broken parts
He holds my heart, He never fails
When I'm at my weakest
I will trust in Jesus
Always in the highs and lows
The One who goes before me
God is in this story
Katy Nichole & Big Daddy Weave - "God Is In This Story"
This has to be what God wants me to write about this week because I have not been able to get this chorus out of my head all week. It has been there in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. It is the first thing that I hear in my head when I awake in the morning, and it has played endlessly over and over in my head throughout each and every single day.
It is officially one week since my breast cancer diagnosis, and I have seen God’s faithfulness throughout my life/our life all week. We sense His peace, a peace that we know is a result of all the prayer warriors we have out there praying for us. Thank you by the way if you are one of them. Know that God is answering your prayers.
This past week has been a normal, and yet not so normal week. It was normal in the sense that Greg and I both traveled for work, and went about our day-to-day as usual, but yet the “normal” had a different feel to it. As you might imagine, there has been quite a bit of reflection and introspection on my part, which is perhaps why this particular song is resonating with me.
photo by Artem Kovalev @artemkovalev
I am blown away by how much God cares about the details of our lives and how He is right there in the middle of them all.
The book of Exodus is full of the wonderful history of baby Moses in the reed basket and being saved by the princess, the burning bush, crazy plagues, and the Israelite’s escape from Pharoah, but the end of Exodus would be so easy to skim and blow past. The end of that book, while full of cultural history and significance, is also full of laws, and rules, and is quite daunting and overwhelming to me, and yet at the same time blew my mind away.
God really cares about the details.
“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them.” (Exodus 26-1)
I have said it a million times, God is NOT a God of coincidence. He is not a God who haphazardly throws out ideas and suggestions unintentionally. He is precise. He knows the very hairs on our head. He sees us, and He leads and guides those who want to know Him. God is in our story and the details of our story matter because our story is supposed to bring glory and honor to Him.
photo by S O C I A L . C U T @socialcut
This week in particular I kept thinking of the following scripture and the story of Peter walking on the water.
“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:22-33 NIV)
A couple of things pertaining to this particular story really had my attention. First, was the fact that Peter gets a bad wrap by most for taking His eyes off Jesus and starting to sink, but, I happen to think Peter had a tremendous amount of faith because he was the only disciple who got out of the boat. Sure he took his eyes off of Jesus, and I understand why Jesus called him out on it, but some of us don’t even get out of the boat when we face difficult or scary circumstances.
“This is where Peter made a critical decision. Continue to struggle in a boat of their making or turn to Jesus for help and relief? Peter decided it was better to be in a storm with Jesus that continue doing things the same way without him; and for his faith, Peter not only got to observe a miracle, [sic] he [sic] got to experience one firsthand by daring to get out of the boat and walk to his lord. Sometimes the greatest miracles of life happen when we too are willing to step out in faith and surrender to God’s power instead of relying on our own. God has a way of parting waters and calming seas when we do.” Joel Ryan- lessons-from-peter-walking-on-water
Second, Jesus is aware of and understands our struggle to trust. Getting out of the boat faith and walking on water required focus. Again, this is where the details matter. Jesus wanted the disciples to learn from all they had already seen up to this point. They had witnessed so many of God’s miracles first-hand and yet they still struggled to have faith.
The same is true for us. When we forget the details of God’s goodness and faithfulness in our own lives, when the storms come, and the waves are crashing we won’t get out of the boat. It takes faith and focus to step out of our greatest fears and walk on the water.
Jesus clearly told the disciples, and all who would follow after, “in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). This was an important detail He made sure to share so that we would understand the need to keep our eyes and focus on Him, especially in the storms of life. We are going to have challenges, but He is there with us. He is in the details, and He wants to help us reveal His light and His goodness through our story.
The miracles that we have seen might not look like what the disciples witnessed, but there are miracles all around us if we have eyes to see them. Those are the details God has given each of us to hold on to when we pass through our fires. As I reflect on the twists and turns of my life, I can see God in the details and how those details are connected. I thought I would share some of those with you today in hopes of encouraging you if you are struggling to see God anywhere in your story, or the story of someone you love who is hurting.
I promise you, He is there, but we have to look hard and be close to Him to put the pieces together.
Just this week, I have seen God in my details in the following ways…
As unfair and crappy as it seems, my husband knows how to support, comfort, guide, and love a woman through this difficult time because he walked this road with his former wife who passed away of breast cancer. God gave me a good, strong man with a gift to know how to love and support a woman in her brokenness and weakness.
My lifelong friend, Carol, ~30-year breast cancer survivor, whom I have walked this road with already, is now advising me on how to navigate this process, emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually. God knew this was coming YEARS before Carol and I knew this.
The nurse who who helped with my biopsy asked me about the hope I seemed to have, and it led to an invitation for her to join my bible study for divorced women. Luck or timing? No way, God opened the door for that conversation. God was there, even in the details of the conversation I was having with those doing my biopsy.
I met a woman over 75 while traveling this week, (I only know her approximate age because she didn’t have to take her shoes off in the TSA line at the airport), who randomly told me she was a 20 + year breast cancer survivor and encouraged me out of nowhere. Out of nowhere? I don’t believe so. I believe that was God.
I met a young mother on my return flight who let me hold her sweet boy while he slept for most of the flight and who later sent me this text…”Hi Melinda! I was hoping you were going to text me because I never got your call from the plane last night! I was so sad when I looked for your number from my calls and I didn’t see it. Thank you for reaching out! I wanted to send you the photo of you holding my Charlie! I appreciated you so so so much last night! I told my Aunt and Uncle about how sweet and kind you were to me and Charlie! I loved chatting with you yesterday!! Your sweet embrace reminding me of my mom, and you are just the sweetest person ever!! I am so so sorry to hear that you were diagnosed with Breast cancer last Thursday. My mom is a 16 year breast cancer survivor!! she had stage 4 breast cancer and went through chemotherapy and radiation when I was 13. I pray that God will heal you and bring his peace over you through this time I will keep you in my prayers! A bible verse that I learned and cling to through my mom’s cancer and every day is “Trust in The Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understandings. Aknowledge Him and he will make your path straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 I loved loved loved connecting with you yesterday! Thank you for loving on me and my sweet Charlie boy!! Boy mom life is the absolute BEST!!!”
Coincidence? I don’t think so. God was here. He was in the details of this connection.
I could go on and on with stories from this past week alone of God’s presence in my chaos and pain, but truth is, He cares, and He hurts when we hurt. God will not always intercede and remove our challenges, but like Peter, if we place our trust in Him and step out of the boat, He is faithful to take our hand guide us through the storm.
We just need to keep our eyes on Him and not lose faith.
photo by hangjia xu @kusoman
