Hope Well Placed

When I was in high school, and a new Christian, I remember a lot of hype around something called the “4 Spiritual Laws”. It was a formulaic program for “evangelizing effectively” and the brain child of Campus Crusade for Christ. I went to the weekend training workshop because the guy I liked was going and I wanted to know what the hullabaloo was all about.

The first of the four laws was, “God loves you and  has a wonderful plan for your life.” I remember wondering at the time how that plan was going to work with my own plan. The other thing was that I couldn’t imagine the Plan would matter to people because it seemed distant to me, and I was an insider!

Thirty-four years later, the fact that the Plan is in place has, surprisingly, become quite a source of comfort for me. When a tough circumstance rears its ugly head, admittedly, the Plan is not my first thought but it’s in the top five. When I finally get there I feel peace and sense of assurance that, although most things are largely out of my hands they are not out of God’s hands. You may say, “Well, that’s just fatalistic.” I don’t think so. Trusting the process and the outcome to the benevolent care of the One who formed me in my mother’s womb is strangely warming.

It seems God is a details kind of Person who knows not only when I have a bad hair day, but how many of those hairs are out of place. While I fuss over what I’m going to wear or eat or say in any given day, He promises to take care of those and other needs of which I may not even be aware. And when it comes to the big stuff, I find that sitting in those large hands – large enough to hold the world – puts everything in perspective.

Accepting the Plan for my life and the lives of those I love helps me relax in whatever life throws at me. God promises he’s got my back, and he gives me the tools I need to handle the hard stuff. Relying on that truth is not positive thinking (see previous blog post), but rather, hope well placed.

He’s got you and me, sister in his hands,

He’s got you and me brother, in his hands,

He’s got the little bitty baby in his hands,

He’s got the whole world in his hands!