Every Good and Perfect Gift

Recently, actually yesterday to be exact, a family from our (Aimee's) church was in a severe car crash.  The driver lost control, spun out, and the vehicle flipped over several times eventually landing right side up.  Their vehicle is totaled.  The mother and three young children were rushed to the hospital.  One of the children came out without a single mark on her.  Another one of the children has a few minor scratches on his leg.  The eldest child (he’s in second grade) has a bruise on his temple and had to have 4 stitches in his chin.  Their mother over-extended her neck and arm (painful, but not life threatening).  That’s it.  They’re shaken up, of course, but no major injuries.

Are you waiting for my point or have you figured it out already?

If you missed it, let me stress a couple of points from the story one more time: (1) their car flipped over several times, (2) the car is completely totaled, and (3) there were no major injuries.

Did you catch it that time?

God was in control!  Praise God!  He had His hand on them last night and He protected every single person in that vehicle who could have easily lost their lives!  Praise God!!

Please don’t hear what I’m (Aimee) not saying.  I’m not saying that when someone dies in an accident (be it a car accident or something else) that God wasn’t watching over them.  I am not saying that.  I am saying that we need to recognize God’s protective hand when people can walk away from a severe accident with only minor injuries.  More than that, and what I really want to get to, is that we need to be better at recognizing the blessings of God in our lives and to thank Him for those blessings!!

It can be really easy for us to turn to God when we’re upset about something.  Whether we believe He’s listening or not (and, by the way, He is listening) many people turn to God in their despair.  When was the last time that you spoke to God just to say thank you, whether it was for some little thing that made your day or some monumental thing that shaped your life?  We forget all too often to thank Him for the blessings that He gives us.

When I thank God for the little things very often a little scene from the movie “Michael” will run through my head.  “Michael” is about an angel who has come to earth and revealed himself to a few chosen people because he came to change their lives for the better… it’s odd, not exactly by the Book, and down-right questionable at some points, but I enjoy it.  Anyway, there is a point where Michael is explaining a little bit about angels to them.  He explains (remember, this is according to the movie, not necessarily biblical) that angels can only perform a limited number of small miracles.  A reference is made along the lines of how some angels waste their abilities by granting silly things like good parking spaces.

I think that some people don’t thank God for the little things because they think that it diminishes God somehow, to suggest that he would waste His time on the little things.  It’s silly to bless someone with a good parking space.  God is huge!  Why would He bother with the little things?  The truth is, to say that God is only involved in the big things is to limit God.  God is involved in everything, everywhere.  He is the Designer, Creator, and Controller of the universe.  To say that God is not in the little things is to imply that there are things that happen outside of God’s will.  But James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from God.  So, be sure to thank Him for the little things as well as the big things.

What are you thankful for?

What’s your story?