"God Loves Small"

A friend at church recently gave me a book by Lori Stanley Roeleveld entitled Jesus and the Beanstalk.  I am only in the beginning of the book, but I've been struck by a phrase she repeats frequently: "God Loves Small." 

She talks about the biblical pattern of "small" defeating "big."  You can probably come up with a list pretty quickly: David fighting Goliath, Gideon's "army," a little boy's lunch, a dozen apostles, the baby Jesus.  Each of these seemed destined for nothing until God made them something. 

I guess I'm resonating with that because I feel so small in so many ways.  The challenges of motherhood are pretty huge in and of themselves, but they are much bigger when you're doing it "on your own."

Starting a new career as a self-employed person is daunting, but even more so when there is no real safety net in place. 

Managing a property with "acreage" and a rental and multiple outbuildings is nearly a full-time job for an experienced handy-man type.  How much more so for someone who just learned that the needle-like thing in the basement with the slow leak is designed for an ice maker.  (Why, then, is it located under the bathroom?  Couldn't tell you.  Must have made sense to someone sometime!) 

Then there are my little ones.  They are navigating some major upheavals in their lives, and I often feel it is "unfair" of them to have to grapple with grown-up griefs at their tender years. 

And yet . . . GOD LOVES SMALL. 

God loves to use the "foolish things of the world to confound the wise" and "the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."  (I Corinthians 1:27)  As believers in Christ, it is not our power or wisdom or skills that brings the victory, but God's. 

I see this each time I am able to meet one of my children's needs in just the right way at just the right time.  And when my work opportunities provide the income I need in just the right measure.  And when my home makeover attempts succeed despite a severe lack of expertise.  And when my precious little ones suddenly show a tenderness of spirit and a maturity I would not have expected from kids their age. 

I used to hate being weak, under-prepared, ill-equipped, insufficient.  (Who am I kidding?  I still do!)  But I love watching how God takes that weakness and does something incredible through it. 

My little family sometimes feels like it's treading water, just focused on the next breath.  But we aren't drowning.  And we're not done.  (No matter how "done in" we sometimes feel!) 

I suspect some of you are in a similar place.  Your struggles may be different, but I'll wager you have giants just as big as ours.  Many of you have ones much, much bigger.  They can feel overwhelming.  Debilitating.  Unconquerable. 

Hear God saying to you, "I LOVE small.  The smaller you feel, the bigger the work I can do in and through you.  Don't give in, little one.  Rather, give it all up . . . to ME.  Cast those fears and worries on me.  I will handle them.  Give me the praise, and watch me live up to it." 

My friends, God has big plans for us yet, you and me.  I don't know what they are.  I don't know even if I'll get to see them, or if, like King David, I will have to be content to have my children build the glorious temple.  But I know they're coming. 

I can't wait!