Monday, December 7, 2009

I Can't Stop Singing.....

Remember that little chorus many of us learned in Sunday School that goes "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me"?

I cannot get that song out of my head today. No one will ever be able to convince me that God doesn't care about "little" things, or that God is not involved in EVERY area of our lives.

For the last 15 years, my family has enjoyed the tradition of spending a weekend together in Pigeon Forge, TN in December. There have been times when it looked like we wouldn't be able to make this trip because one family member or another couldn't be there, or it might be financially impossible. But always, each and every year, God has made it possible for me, my husband, our kids, my sisters and their kids, and my parents all to be together for this weekend. He has always provided the finances to make this possible~every time.

This year, I started in September praying about our Pigeon Forge trip this year~praying that everyone would be able to go, praying that finances wouldn't be a problem for anyone, praying that everyone would be healthy and well enough to go, and that we would all be protected from illness, injury, accidents, etc during the trip. This year, I also had an added prayer request. I asked the Lord to show us the best arrangements to make for the care of our little dog, and to keep her healthy and safe while we were gone.

God answered each and every prayer. Everyone's schedule was clear for them to be able to go. That may not sound like much, but we are talking about 6 adults, 4 of which work full time jobs~2 teenagers, 1 of whom works 2 jobs and 4 younger children who are all involved in various activities. So yes, God was in the fact that everyone was able to go on this trip. God also worked out all the financial details. I was sick last week, but felt fine in time for the trip. My sister is fighting a sinus infection, but didn't really begin to feel ill until we were on our way home. My daughter slipped and fell in the pool area and scraped her back up. As cuts and scrapes go, this one was pretty bad, but considering that she fell on wet concrete, she could have been much more seriously injured. God is good.

God provided us with wonderful, dear friends who were willing to care for our dog for the weekend, and He was kind enough to give us complete peace throughout the weekend that our dearly loved pet would be fine. God is good.

On top of all of that, we spent Saturday strolling through Gatlinburg, TN. God blessed us with just enough snow to make it refreshing and beautiful, without causing terrible driving conditions or such extreme cold that we couldn't enjoy being outside. God is good.

When we got home last night, we found out that our dog had actually gotten away from our friends while we were gone, and for a while, they didn't know where she was. Then, our friends sweet little girl told me that as she was walking through the woods near thier home looking for our dog, everything became very quiet, and she heard the dog sneeze. She was able to find the dog, who was not harmed at all, and lead her back to their house. In that sweet, simple, child like faith, this child stated, quite matter of factly~ "I felt God leading me. He showed me where the dog was".

What amazed me was that this child was NOT amazed at all. It seemed completely natural to her that God would show her where to find that dog. The same is true of her little brother, who, as soon as he heard that the dog had gotten out, said "It's going to be okay. God is in control."

Out of the mouths of babes!!! Oh, that we, as adults, could grab on to the faith of children, and hang on to it like the life preserver that it is!! How sad that we so routinely let the cares and troubles of our adult world obscure or even destroy our child like faith!!

Just this morning, I heard a sermon on the miracles of Jesus. The speaker pointed out that Jesus never performed a miracle without a reason, and that often, that reason included faith building. He went on to say that many times, God allows or brings things into our lives in order to build our faith. Sometimes, they are big things. But not always. Sometimes, they are little things~things like a beautiful snowfall during a weekend in the mountains, a fun trip with your family, and God's hand of protection on your loved ones, even a pet.

In the big things, in the little things, in ALL things~GOD IS GOOD!!!

In His Love,
Vicki