Can I be vulnerably honest with you? My life is crazy right now. There’s so much going on, I hardly have time to write this blog! (Rough drafting this at a medical appointment.)
I’ve never handled stress very well, so I work diligently to manage my time. I try to keep things orderly and have even put extra effort into spreading tasks out evenly in a schedule.
But, as you all know, life happens. Things beyond our control intrude themselves upon our best-laid plans and order, upsetting our routine. Sometimes we unwittingly set ourselves up for chaos because we’ve forgotten some detail in our schedule or failed to fully realize
- what all is required to do what we agreed to, and/or
- how long it would take to do it.
The next thing we know, we’re running around like a chicken with its head just cut off! Our serene, orderly life has turned crazy!
But a super-busy and unfamiliar schedule does not mean I have to be in mental, emotional, or spiritual turmoil. A crazy life situation does not dictate a crazy mind and spirit.
Why not? Because I believe God is in control. Yes, even when everything looks out of control, and when I certainly have no control, I believe in a God who is still in ultimate control even when the devil himself appears to be getting his way in everything.
How can I believe that? I have both objective and subjective reasons.
First, the Bible objectively declares that God is in control, working all things out “for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28 NIV). (This verse is just one example.)
This does not mean that bad things will never happen. Bad events are the result of sin entering the world. In fact, Paul goes on to say that bad stuff happening is a regular part of life (my paraphrase of Romans 8:35b-36).
And Paul would know; that man had a ton of crazy stuff happen in his life! (See Acts 13-28 for examples). Yet even when people were being malicious and taking advantage of his imprisonment, Paul rejoiced that the Good News of Jesus Christ was being declared, regardless of the speakers’ intentions (Phil. 1:15-18).
Good things came forth out of Paul’s crazy life because God was in control. And God being in control is what kept Paul sane. What keeps the external crazy from driving us crazy is dependent on our relationship with God–that is, if we’re yielded to Him and letting Him be in control of our everyday lives or if we’re still trying to be in control.
I don’t have time to illustrate this point with any other Bible stories; you’ll have to find and read them on your own. As you read, just pay attention when a character’s life has gotten crazy and notice how God shows up! (Oh alright, I’ll get you started. One of my favorite stories is Joshua 9:1-10:15 because God performed some of His best miracles to help the Israelites, even though the excess crazy they were dealing with was of their own making!)
The second reason I have for believing that God is in control, even when things look and feel crazy, is my own personal experience! I have now experienced this and reaped the benefits of the manifesting good things so often that I’ve probably forgotten more experiences than I remember!
Even now, in this current season of crazy, I’m already starting to see God working all things out for my and my family’s good! I wish I could easily share with you all the things I see coming together for our good, but I think I’m still just a bit too close to the action to have a big enough perspective to fully understand what God is doing and tell about it. Perhaps I’ll be able to share some of it in a later post.
Speaking of future posts, this season of crazy has really been challenging my ability to fulfill my goal of blogging every two weeks. And since this season is not over, it may continue to interfere with that goal for a while. I hope you’ll keep coming back to read, watching for whenever I am able to publish a post again.
Meanwhile, please know that just because my life is currently crazy, it’s not making me crazy. I’m just very busy trying to keep up with all the good God has got going on for me. I’m looking forward to experiencing all the blessed order that God is pulling together out of this chaos!
And I hope that you can also say, “Crazy, not crazy” when your life is acting like it’s out of control. If not, please feel free to let me know (comment below or use my Contact Me! page for more privacy). I’ll be glad to pray for you and try to help with godly counsel. How can I have time for you when my own life is acting crazy? Well, because God is in control. And when He wants me to minister, my crazy miraculously calms down!
Thanks for reading!
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Domestic Minister 
Thanks for the blogpost! It was very encouraging. I loved it when you said God is still in control even when it appears like the devil is having his way. That is something we always have to remind ourselves!
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Glad to hear that this was helpful! Remembering that God is in control is so calming. From the human perspective, the devil can appear to be all-powerful, unlimited, and beyond control. But from God’s perspective, that old imp is severely limited and on a short leash– he is very much contained! Praise God! (Thanks so much for commenting!)
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