When I attended GriefShare there were two videos dedicated to counting down the top 20 lessons one learns while going through grief. God’s sovereignty is their number one lesson and it is that lesson combined with a few things going on in this wild, wacky and wonderful world that inspired this post.
Life
Contrary to popular opinion, it does not take two to make a baby. It takes three – man, woman and God; a different type of Holy Trinity.
If God wants there to be a baby, then a couple will have a baby. Just think of how crowded the world would be if a man and a woman had a baby every time they made love. That does not happen because God does not want it to happen. He wants men and women to experience the pleasure of love making and not always have a baby.
When Joe and I married we decided to leave the decision about having children up to God. If He wanted us to have them then we would. However God knew our future, He knew the marriage would only last 14 3/4 years. So He decided we should not have children.
Instead, He blessed us with a golden fur child we named Rommie. We had some great times together as a family before Joe passed away. Rommie and I had some wonderful times together before she joined Joe in heaven 4 years ago. We were so thankful God brought her into our lives.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
Psalm 139:16
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
New International Version
(NIV)
He also knew you, the moment you would burst forth in this world and how your life was going to fit into the the grand plan He had set in place.
He knew your trials and tribulations, your highs and lows and your successes and failures. All this He knew long before you were born.
Not only did God know everything about you before creation, He LOVED and STILL LOVES you despite your shortcomings.
Death
Since He knew us and the moment of our birth, it also means He knows the exact moment we will move to heaven. We can not do anything to lengthen our lives.
There is nothing I could have done to stop Joe from moving to heaven. His move was predestined – just as the date of my move was written in stone before God created earth and heaven.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
Psalm 116:15
is the death of his faithful servants.
New International Version
(NIV)
Thy Will Be Done
So often we rage against God for thwarting our plans. We act as if we are in charge and God is our personal genie at our beck and call. He is to do as we say and not function according to His will.
But that is not the case.
There is a reason the Lord’s Prayer contains the line
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
It is because God is in control. His will is perfect and better than ours – always has been and always will be. Even Jesus knew His Father was in charge.
Our birth and death are not the only things God alone controls. He also reigns supreme over the climate and the weather.
Weather
Weather is defined by m-w.com as: “the state of the atmosphere with respect to heat or cold, wetness or dryness, calm or storm, clearness or cloudiness.”
I am writing this on a balmy October morn here in Northeast Ohio. Balmy is not a word we use to describe October weather. When this post publishes the state of the atmosphere will be fall-like and not balmy.
If I Ruled The World balmy weather would continue till January (need 6 weeks of 32 or below to keep the insect population under control).
But I do not control the weather. Temperatures will fall, as they normally do this time of year resulting in windows being closed and wearing long sleeve fleece tops instead of my silky sleeveless ones.
The falling temps will eventually result in scenic views such as:
AND
If humans could change the weather us Northeast Ohioans would turn a steering wheel and send all the Lake Effect Snow to Michigan. The folks at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) would turn a steering wheel and drive all hurricanes out to sea.
But we can’t send our snow to Michigan and hurricanes can’t be driven out to sea by humans. Only God can steer snow and hurricanes. He is exceptional at controlling the weather because He created it.
24 Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
Matthew 8:24-27
26 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
English Standard Version
(ESV)
Emphasis Mine
Climate Change
Climate is defined by m-w.com as: “the average course or condition of the weather at a place usually over a period of years as exhibited by temperature, wind velocity, and precipitation.”
Any climate change is a result of God, not man.
If God wants Ohio to be an arid zone, then He will change it. If he wants Texas to be covered in ice, then so be it. The climate is His and His alone to control.
Ever since God created the earth, it has gone through heating and cooling cycles. Cycles that last longer than our life span.
Nothing we do will stop Him from implementing His plan. He is weaving all our light and dark moments (both individually and collectively as humans) together and one day we will see His finished project.
The Only Climate We Can Change
We can only change the climate of our hearts. How? Pray, Love God, and Love your neighbor.
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
English Standard Version
(ESV)
AND
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22: 37-40
English Standard Version
(ESV)
Under New Management – Not New Ownership
This world was created by God and given to us to manage. Have we managed it well – sometimes yes and sometimes no.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Genesis 2:15
English Standard Version
(ESV)
Do we pollute the air more than we should – yes. Do we litter more than we should – yes. But God already knew how we would manage the world. He already knew about our use of petroleum, coal and natural gas and knew we would raise cows for our dairy and meat needs.
He knew because He gave us the knowledge and talent to be creative and invent technology that would help us thrive and prosper generation after generation.
Your faithfulness continues through all generations;
Psalm 119:90
you established the earth, and it endures.
New International Version
(NIV)
Emphasis mine.
Quit trying to put yourself on the same level with God. We answer to Him, He does not answer to us. He owes us no explanation for anything that happens including earthquakes, hurricanes, lightning strikes, and untimely deaths.
The Bottom Line
We will be fine despite littering, polluting, farting cows and other things. The climate will continue to go through cycles and we will live the exact number of years God predetermined before creation.
So work on changing the climate of your heart, taking care of the planet and all of God’s creatures great and small but remember
God is in control.
Whether you like it or not,
He Has The Whole World In His Hands.
Taken by my Father while in the Navy.
Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to encourage widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s used those skills while managing call center teams, co-facilitating a grief support group, and helping small businesses with various writing and administrative assignments. Michele is a bookworm, and a lover of history, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com
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