It Just So Happened

I just can't get over something- I frequently listen to podcasts at work of sermons from my pastor and last week I started listening to the series he preached on Ruth.

One of the things that I just can't get out of my head is where Ruth ends up in the field of a kinsman redeemer- one of the only men who could marry her and restore their family, quite the equivalent of finding the back of your earring that fell out yesterday and you have to go everywhere you went and hope it's still there. As most may know, Ruth ends up being (I believe) grandmother to David, but far more important is the fact that she was in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ... I'd say that is the equivalent of amazing.

Pastor Mark pointed out is how the Lord is so intimately involved in every detail of our lives. What is beautiful about this is that he used the language of the Bible to really emphasize this- it just so happened was a phrase that he used again and again.

I love this, because things in my life seem so utterly random, and often come from heartache or at least adversity. I did TFA largely in part because I was deeply hurt by a church and needed a fresh start. I met Jason as a result of not getting a job that I was supposed to have. Jas and I are going to an amazing church because the Lord used problems at our previous church to reach out to Him. Some of the most tangible growth in our life as a married couple has grown out of a heartbreaking family situation where we were completely... well, wronged.

This all seems so coincidental, mere happenstance, and yet the hand of God never ceases to amaze me- it just so happened that I was hurt, that I was rejected, that I was robbed spiritually by weak leaders. It just so happened that the Lord turned what man intended for evil (whether it was under a cloak of spirituality that even the perpetrator fell for) into being useful for good. It just so happened that the Lord has used my own sins and errors and used them for good. I will never get over this- the Lord, Jesus Christ, is far more powerful and able than I will ever begin to understand, and He alone is worthy of my worship.

I don't need to whine about a job I don't like, a relationship I'd rather not deal with, a material possession that isn't up to what I think I deserve. Instead, I can see that every circumstance is always part of a "it just so happened" that the Lord always uses to make me more into the woman He intends for me to be. I can say nothing other than a humble HALLELUJAH to that.

-Tami