My wife is a wonderful woman. Not only does she take care of our kiddos and I, she also pours into the lives of many of the women she knows.
At any given time she has at least one friend that’s going through heartbreaking circumstances or challenges, and she tries to help them in various ways. One weekday at church she was the lead for her class’s Bible study, which was a source of stress for her in terms of preparation and delivering the material. Though the class itself went well, another woman she knew sought her out afterward, and it resulted in a conversation that required a lot of mental energy and focus. It wasn’t a bad encounter, but it added to the stress of a particularly draining day. By the time she left church with our preschool-aged daughter, she just wanted to get home and do something that didn’t require any thought or energy, but she knew our little girl would want to read some books or play pretend with some of her toys.
Mentally exhausted and physically worn out, she arrived home to see that I had come home early for a dental appointment, and was just about to leave. Instead of driving right from work to the dentist, I came home first because I wanted to change clothes so I could run an errand after the dentist. My daughter got excited and wanted to go with me because the last time she went with me to the dentist, one of the assistants had allowed her to pick a toy out of the little treasure chest, just for tagging along. Well, that sounded good to everyone, so my little sidekick and I drove off.
My wife came inside to a quiet house and collapsed on the couch. Before long she thought of something she needed to do online. She picked up our laptop and went to turn it on, but the battery was dead. Taking this as a sign, she put it back down and closed her eyes for just a few moments. She ended up getting a half hour of much-needed quiet…an opportunity that would not have happened if our daughter stayed home and if the laptop’s battery had any life in it.
People often forget this, but the God of the big things is God of the little things, too. Foreseeing this need, God laid the groundwork for that day. There were at least three separate things that needed to happen in order for these conditions to exist for my wife. I don’t remember what errand I intended to run after the dentist, but God worked it out that instead of going right from work to the dentist, I first came home to change clothes. In addition to that, I don’t know how long before that day my daughter came with me to the dentist, but somehow God set up the circumstances for that previous visit so that I was home and took my little girl with me and she got a toy, conditioning her to want to go again the next time. Similarly, however we used the laptop the day before (or the morning of) the Bible study resulted in a dead battery by the time my wife arrived home.
It’s as if God says “if you follow me and work for me, you’re going to have hard times, but I’m going to take care of you.” Never forget that God is sovereign; there is nothing He can’t control. When you’re living in His will, He goes before you and “plows the road” ahead of you to get you where He wants you to be. On the flip side, if you’re not living in His will, there will probably be times when it seems like there hasn’t been one particularly difficult challenge, but you feel like you’re expending a lot of energy just to accomplish something minor.
So, especially during this busy season, remember: the God of the big things is God of the little things, too.