God is……everything. He is omniscient (knows everything), omnipresent (present everywhere always), the Beginning (of everything), the End (of everything), and whatever lies in-between. He is the Creator of this world and all natural things in it, He is the ruler of the Universe and beyond. Yet, this same God holds your individual life in his hands, just as He holds mine. Better yet, He knows every single tiny detail about you and I, including our thoughts and desires, and those He knows far in advance to us even thinking about it.

I was reminded of this yet again last weekend.

“For the Lord of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”
Isaiah 14:27

Our daughter serves in the United States Army, and has for nearly a year. She doesn’t know anyone outside of the Army at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs where she is stationed. Being one of only a few females in her company, she doesn’t have many friends, and the men tend to want more than just her being a fellow soldier. So, most of the time when not at work or on duty, she is alone. This is the hardest part for my husband and I: to be far away from where she is and not be able to help her or be with her.

Being concerned and perhaps doting parents, we decided to reach out to our friends to find some mutual person(s) that could be a friend and Godly support for our daughter that is within close proximity to her. Recalling a couple from our church, Dax and Brooke, who had commented on a Facebook post of mine from when I was visiting my daughter in Colorado Springs, they mentioned that their wedding had been in that same town several years ago. So I reached out to them, asking if they had friends or family in that area.

Their response was ‘Yes’, because Brooke had a brother near Colorado Springs that was a pastor. Great! Curious about who he was and where he was a pastor, I looked him up on Facebook, and noticed that he and I had one mutual friend in common: a man named David that I knew from 35 years ago while working at Kansas City Youth For Christ, who was now a pastor in Missouri. Wow! That was incredible! Naturally I reached out to David, asking him how he knew Matt, Brooke’s brother.

His response was they had known each other as fellow pastors while they both lived in the same town many years ago in western Georgia. In fact they had just spent time together 2 weeks ago. When I mentioned that we lived in Cumming, GA (north of Atlanta), he proceeded to tell me that he knew of Cumming because he had at that time helped and coached a man who was starting a church there: Mountain Lake Church.

“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.”
Job 42:2

Imagine my surprise to learn that David, my friend of 35 years ago whom I haven’t seen in as much, had 25 years ago helped shape the very church that I currently attend! It is at this very same church that I met Dax and Brooke, who has this brother named Matt…..

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and He will act.”
Psalm 37:5

This story has come full circle! When someone says this is a small world, even though there are billions of people on it, believe that when God is involved, it is an intimate and personal world. Our Lord foreordains, prepares, shapes, plans, sets, makes a way, and fulfills all because He is involved in each of our lives by choice. And He is PERSONAL.

How this will all play out exactly is unknown to me as of today. Who Jesus has arranged to befriend my daughter is unknown to me as of today. But this I do know: my Heavenly Father has shown me that He has a plan, and He has already laid the foundation for it. All I need to do is trust that, believe it, and follow Him by living accordingly.

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11

You can compare this to 6 degrees of separation. You can say it is coincidence. The fact is that with God, all things are possible, when He is your Lord.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.”
Isaiah 55:8

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10

Food for thought: If He is not everything in your life, you are definitely missing out on true joy, perfect peace, and the gentlest yet most powerful kind of love in history.

Fun facts: Six degrees of separation is the idea that all people on average are six, or fewer, social connections away from each other. As a result, a chain of “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It is also known as the “sixhandshakes” rule.

Photo by: Kari Wiseman – Garden of the gods