all the things.

All around, hope is springing up from this old ground;

Out of chaos, life is being found in YOU.

You make beautiful things out of the dust; You make beautiful things out of us.

I heard this song on my run this morning and it was so perfectly timed by the Lord. As things tend to be. :) He speaks to me in themes, and as I’ve told you before, there is such sweet communion with Him during our morning runs together. He speaks to me on those runs, I promise He does! 

Last week I kept going to Him about various “things” in my life right now. Just “things” about various relationships in my life, about decisions of how best to educate our kids, about breastfeeding, about bills, about my husband and his company, about our farm. Some small things, some really big, hairy, tough things. I’m sure you have “things” that concern you, too, because we are human. So you know what I mean. Just “things”.

And His Word to me was to remember the places in the Bible where He says, “all things”. Because I mean, what would NOT be included in “all things”? Nothing. Certainly everything that was concerning me last week would fall under the category of “all things”. 

At first since, while I was running, I didn’t have my Bible in hand, I scanned my memory for where I had learned Scriptures that said “all things”. 

In all these things we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Seek first His kingdom, and all these things will be added unto you.

In Him all things hold together.

He works all things together for the good of those who love Him.

So that thing you are concerned about? Whatever it is? It is under this category of all things and you can say with confidence, He is holding this thing together. He is working this thing together for my good. I can be more than a conqueror in this thing with His help. I can do this thing, knowing that He will give me all things that I need for it.

So I had been meditating on this “all things” principle all throughout the week last week, and when I walked into our Easter morning service and our pastor read this passage from Colossians 1:15-23, I was completely blown away by a God who speaks, who makes Himself clear, who continues weaving this theme into all my details, who will not let me forget that He is Lord over all the things:

“He is in the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of (all things). For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the Head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might be preeminent.”

And then the choir sang about crowning Him Lord of all things. And I cried.

And then I remembered that just that morning, I had come to church concerned about some of those “things”, and He had lovingly, sovereignly, graciously gone before me and taken care of those “things”. I had a conversation in the bathroom and He shined a light on an area I had asked Him for help with. You know, just “happened” to bump into that lady that said that thing that helped me with that thing. Just Him. Going before me, taking care of my things. There was another “thing” I was concerned about, and I needed to have some conversations with some people to tell them that I was still waiting on the Lord for an answer to that “thing”, and the people were abundantly gracious and merciful and blessed me with their understanding. Just Him. Going before me, taking care of my things again. He does that.

And then I remembered one of my favorite verses: “The Lord will PERFECT that (thing) which concerns me.” You will hear me quote that verse a lot. Because I love it. :) Because He WILL. He will perfect all of those “things”.

And then our pastor preached the most eloquent presentation of the Gospel; of how good the world was when God created it and how perfectly sinless we were and how we were made to be in perfect communion with Him and each other. Of the devastation of the Fall, and how it changed everything, how in an instant there was death and sadness and sin and brokenness. Of how Jesus came to change our stories; to make all things NEW! Hallelujah! To take our “things” and redeem them, restore them, breathe life into them again. Of how in all things we are being gloriously transformed through a progressive process of renewal until one day when all things will be perfect again. Hallelujah. Amen!

You can hear his message here. It's the one entitled, "What Jesus Accomplished When He Walked out of the Tomb." Please take some time to listen. He lays it all out so clearly. All the things are starting to make sense now. All. Things.

And so I began today with the forefront of my thoughts being how He is redeeming all things in my life. After the “Beautiful Things” song came a new version of the Rich Mullins song I ran to 20 years ago called “Sometimes by Step”. It goes, “Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You! Oh God, You are my God, and I will ever praise You! I will seek You in the morning, and I will learn to walk in Your ways, and step by step You’ll lead me, and I will follow You all of my days.” And I cried out to Him in gratitude as I ran to this song today, at age 36, the same song I ran to at age 15 about following Him all of my days. I have not followed Him faithfully all of my days, and yet I can see His hand woven through those days so clearly now, His leading and guiding and reproving and instructing and wooing and pursuing and bringing me ever back to His perfect path. When I was a young girl, He placed on my heart such a desire to be a wife and mother. Other girls wanted to be doctors or astronauts; I wanted with all my heart to be a wife and mother. That seemed to me the highest and most glorious of callings. A woman at home with a house full of children. But all that was shaken with a divorce at age 24 that left me a broken, wounded, disillusioned single mother, thinking God’s plan for my life must be over. I must have failed at that. But praise God, that was not the end of His story for me. He so powerfully worked in my life, working all those things back into that good plan He placed on my heart early on. And guess what I am today? A woman at home with a house full of children. Praise His Name! He has redeemed that in my life! 

The last song I heard on my run this morning was “You Know Me” by Bethel Music. It goes, “You have been, and You will be; You have seen, and You will see. You know me.”  What truth. He sees the things. All the things. No-thing is hidden from Him. And that God who sees, will see to it. Selah.