There were a lot of "big's" in that first paragraph. You should actually count the amount of times I used the word "big." It's a big number. I overdid it to show how natural it is for us to refer to God that way. It's what He is. But while our God is big, our God is also small. "That's not right," you may be saying as you're reading this. It seems weird to put it that way, I know...so let me unpack this a little bit.
Have you ever had the feeling that God is mainly concerned with the major details of this world and not concerned with the minor details of your life? If we're being honest, I have had this feeling more times than I should. But it's the truth! Let's paint a quick picture. We see God as an almighty, all powerful, BIG God who is making sure things at the anthill stay intact while we little, insignificant ants go about our lives, simply trying to get the next bread crumb to make it through the day. God doesn't care about the details of our lives, right? WRONG. He cares about the small details of our lives more than we give Him credit for.
While in Greece, we spent more time in prayer in those 10 days than I think I have ever spent in my whole life. Kidding, but kind of not kidding at all. There were days that we would spend 5 or 6 hours solely in prayer. Something I realized in the midst of all of the praying was that God was listening. He was intently listening to every detail of every prayer. Wanna know how I know He was listening? Because He responded. I won't go into too much detail because there were an insane amount of stories I'd love to share, but that may be best over a cup of coffee. One example of how He listened: I woke up one morning in Athens with the strong desire to meet a girl my age who spoke English. We had been meeting all kinds of incredible people but the majority of them were men who were not skilled in English. So I asked God to bring me just that. What did He do? He introduced me to an awesome girl who is EXACTLY my age, speaks great English, and we happened to instantly get along as if we knew each other for years. Why was that important? Not sure. But God listened. And by His faithfulness, He answered. I'm still praying for that girl every day, hoping that she will know the Lord and have the same joy and peace I have. Will I be able to see that happen, God willing it does? Probably not. And that's okay. It's not our job to see how God uses the seeds we scatter (Matthew 13:3-9) - we are just here to plant them. Everything else is His will.
Every morning since I've been back from Greece, I've asked the Lord to give me an opportunity to talk about Him. Wanna know how much He's answered that prayer? Every. Single. Time. I also pray for things as insignificant as getting the window seat on the plane because all the assigned seats were changed. Dumb? Maybe. But I was weary and needed rest so sleeping against a window seat sounded glorious. And yes, He did give me a window seat that day.
"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it." -Matthew 21: 21-22
"And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for." -1 John 5:14-15
"Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us." -Ephesians 2:18
To be clear, God is sovereign; whatever He says, goes. There will be times that He says no to us. But our Heavenly Father says no to us in the same way that a father tells his 2-year-old child not to touch the hot stove. Dad knows what's best for His children. After all, He did knit us in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13). But as powerful and mighty as our God is, He is a gentle, gracious, and loving God. He just wants to hear from you.
Challenge: Ask God for something small and specific today. But before you do that, check your heart; you have to make sure your heart is asking Him out of pure faith. Once you realize that your heart is in the right condition, ASK AWAY. He is a detail-oriented God who loves you and the little things in your life more than you could ever imagine.
Blessings,
Katie
