God is still in the small stuff
Today was an incredible day at work in regards to seeing things happen that affirm once again that God is in the small stuff.
One of the nurses I work with was used today in a powerful way to minister to the daughter of a former patient of ours. For my friend, the nurse, (we’ll just call her Kay) it started on the drive to work. “Something” triggered Kay to remember a family that our team took care of last year. The patient died in the month of March. Maybe it just being the month for the anniversary of her passing was enough to bring it to mind. Nonetheless “for such a time as this” it came to her mind today.
I got into the office late today. After Kay left for her rounds, one of our supervisors came looking for her to convey a phone message he took. We talked a few moments trying to connect the dots on when this Pt was taken care and what we could remember about the family. Later in the day I met Kay and some others from our team for lunch.
There was much to talk about at lunch As five of us sat around the lunch table we talked about spiritual concerns of two other families we are presently talking care of. Their situations are challenging and raise a lot of questions.
As we were talking, I asked Kay if one of our supervisors had gotten to talk to her since she left the office. She affirmed that he had. “You know it’s the strangest thing, I was just thinking of that family this morning. What do you make of that Bob?” My reply was, “sounds like God is getting ready to do something and it involves you.” I went on to share some of my own experiences where God “called someone to mind foe me” and there was a clear need for prayer as time unfolded in the situation.
We went our separate ways after lunch. As the day progressed, Kay gave me a call to update me on her phone conversation with the patient’s daughter at the end of the afternoon. We’ll let the details of the conversation remain private. They really aren’t needed to finish the story.
Kay said, “by the time I got around to calling her back, (by the way, circumstantially, she could not call her back until late in the afternoon) I had thought all day about the patient, the family, all the dynamics of family relationships, the challenges this woman faced as a caregiver for her mother, and all that we talk about at lunch. I knew exactly what this woman needed to hear from me for encouragement and healing when I found out what she called for.”
“So Kay,” I said, “ Can you see how God took the whole day to prepare you to get ready to speak just exactly the words this woman needed to hear so that she could receive the healing message of affirmation she so desperately needed to hear?”
“Yes” she replied, “ I can now.”
Isn’t it wonderful, incredible, stupendous and engaging to know that God wants to invite us to do things for Him, with Him, that he could do quite well without our participation?
Esther 4:14 says:
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
Queen Esther was being reminded by her uncle that God placed in that moment of time for a specific purpose and plan. Maybe she couldn’t see it coming but it was at this critical moment of crisis for her people that she had risen to a position of influence to do something positive. The choice was hers: if she declined, God would find another person to fulfill His plan.
How often do we miss God’s fingerprints in the small stuff? How often do we miss the invitation that God is giving us in the minor details of life? How often do we miss or decline the opportunity to be used by Him in the epic story of someone else’s faith journey?
And if he can be so pervasive in the details of our lives how hard is it to believe that He did such an incredible act of grace and mercy for us on our behalf through the ministry death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? How hard can that be? Really?
Thank you, Kay for surrendering to His will today.
