Is God really God of everything or only of the things we can see and understand? Most of us as Christians would immediately answer that God was surely God of everything, no doubt. We rest in that fact and find peace . . . till something happens that we cannot see and understand.
I know. It even happened to me. I truly believe in the God of the universe, the One who made all things out of absolutely nothing. He has complete control and is all-powerful; able to hold the world in the palm of His hand and still live inside of me. God is completely amazing.
All of these things I understood, recognizing Him as my Savior and knowing He is the only one who could save me. Then on one August day in Tennessee, God challenged that faith. Did I really trust Him with everything? Did I without a doubt believe He was God of everything?
That day in August my soldier-husband left for deployment. We had been married just over a year. He had done temporary assignments for weeks at a time in foreign places like Louisiana, but no one had ever shot at him there. They pretended war so they would be prepared for the real thing, but this year-long deployment was the “real thing” in action. They were going to be using real bullets against real bad guys in a land to which I had never been. Was God there too? Did I really believe He had control of everything including the life of my husband in a foreign land?
The matter came down to one very important fact – is God really the God I believe Him to be or is He nothing at all? You see, with God there is no half-way, no believing parts and pieces without believing it all. It would be like picking and choosing from the Bible. Can you imagine? “Well, that story about David is surely true, but that creation thing – not so much.” Now that would make a lot of sense.
That day in August, I had to decide. I came to the conclusion that God is truly God . . . of everything, even in the “sandbox.” My husband, regardless of his location on the planet, was safe in the arms of Jesus. God would take Kyle home when He was ready, whether on the couch in our living room or in a foreign land. God is truly God – always. This one fact makes all the difference in the world, and in eternity.
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