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(Re) How embracing the ‘S’ word strengthened my faith in God.

Do you know the 2 ‘S’ words Christians like to avoid?

The first one is obvious. I was gonna use it in my title for dramatic effect but my mother-in-law reads this and I didn’t want to give her a heart attack. [Love u mom]. Plus I already kind of used it here.

There is however another ‘S’ word that Christians avoid like the plague and the weird part is, its in the bible. Can you guess what it is?...

Slippy?
Slappy?
Samsonite? No. The word is...

'Sovereign'.

A quick bible word search brought up 297 results. That's 173 more times than the word ‘grace’. So what does ‘Sovereign’ mean?

Here’s how John Piper puts it...

"...God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons – all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself..."

I.e: God is in control over ALL things. Not some things or some people or some circumstances. ALL things and ALL people and ALL circumstances. How scary is that?

Really scary. 

But what if Gods sovereignty was actually a beautiful thing? 

What if it was something that could give you more peace? more joy? What if it could strengthen your faith in God like it did mine a few Christmas's ago?

Let me explain.

Our whole family was celebrating on Christmas eve when my Aunt hands Ashley and I an old scrap book in an attempt to prove a story that I already concluded in my head was "crazy talk". 

Apparently she had been in Haiti about 8 or 9 years ago and she thought she had met our adopted daughter Bebe.

Somehow through a crazy set of circumstances, she ended up at a random orphanage for an evening. She had one picture of a random orphan from that orphanage.

Guess who it was?

Yes, it was Bebe, our daughter. [Pic above]

So, of all the thousands of orphanages in Haiti, my wife’s aunt ‘somehow’ 'randomly' ended up at the one with Bebe, and of all the kids at the orphanage [60 or so] she got one picture, not a handful, no, just one picture of just one girl, our girl. 

Let's zoom out and consider the big picture. 

An African moves to Toledo. 3.5 years ago he marries a red-head from Ohio. A year later they adopt a Haitian girl (one they randomly fell in love with at an orphanage) who had already met her now great aunt years before her parents met.

Crazy: That picture you see up there is one of about two pictures we have of our daughter before we met her at 12. 

So that whole time I was balling my eyes out every night convinced that our daughter either died in the earthquake or we would never be able to adopt her because it was virtually legally impossible, God already had a picture of her waiting for me in Ohio. Before I ever met her mom. 

What are the odds?

I don’t know. But i will tell u this..

God is Sovereign.

'I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is still to come. I say my purpose will stand and I will do all that I please.' [Isaiah 46:10]

Friends, this is not a scary thing, It is a beautiful thing. It makes me breath easier. It makes me worry less. It strengthens my faith and I am filled with joy because my life is ultimately not in my hands. 

I don't know what you're going through or what is keeping you up at night in tears. I don't know how impossible life feels. But here's what I do know... 

God is Sovereign. 

And he's working everything in your life right now for your good and his glory. 

What are your thoughts about Gods sovereignty and what do you think would happen if we believed that God is always in control? Other thoughts?