God Is In Control..
By Marilyn Kettering Badger
February 8, 2016
When I wake in the morning, I’m so glad God is in control and wants me with Him in His work for the next day. When I look out on the world of nature, I’m so glad God is in control of the rising and setting of the sun on a regular pattern, and it is consistent. In nature I also can count on the sequence of the seasons and the happenings within them according to their location of latitude and longitude. There are so many things in nature that we can count on. And there are others that we cannot count on. BUT, even among the ones we cannot truly count on, like the weather, we know, that as part of His world, we can count on Him to be with us.
God is in control in our homes. We need to live His way and trust in Him. And with that faith and trust, we can count on Him. Hopefully He can count on us to follow his leading.
In 1892 Council Meeting minutes, the Maple Grove church tried to decide what needed to be done with God’s building (His house). They thought about tearing the building down and rebuilding it…but it didn’t seem right for then. The back part was added on around 1900, a basement was dug under it (1942), a vestibule and entrance was added (late 1950’s), a new sanctuary was built with a basement level (1962) and then because of some problems with handicap accessibility the thought was that an elevator was needed. (Rev. Petry spent most of his time with us in a wheelchair that needed to be carried up and down the steps with him in it.) So over the years it was debated what to do. The elevator would have needed multi-levels and because of some concerns where old and new would meet and some uncertainty of the stability, the elevator idea became very expensive. Much prayer went into those years and many ideas but the building was not torn down. Eventually an idea spawned - again - to tear down the old building and rebuild so all, but the basement, would be on the same level.
God is in control in our church. If we keep Him as our focus, we remember that the church belongs to Him. We saw this when deciding about building or remodeling the old part of the building, and people were unsure of the direction to go, and then ... the well situation made it so obvious.
The first well drilled did not yield the volume of water required for our size of public building plus the parsonage. We were told we would need many wells of that size. When they came to put the casement in for the well, something collapsed in, and it became unusable. The well drillers moved over a distance – maybe 10 feet - and started drilling again. This time the well yielded well above the volume of water needed for the church building as well as the parsonage. God was in control and seemed to want us to move ahead. (One person even said, “God seemed to be kicking us into action.” – only he used other words.) The vote by the church was unanimous to do what seemed clearly now to be God’s will for us.
We saw this again when we've needed a new minister and God provided one that fit the needs. These “votes” were mostly unanimous with what seemed to be God’s will.
God is in control of so much of our lives, if we let Him be, and work together: if we welcome him into our daily living, our views of life, our thinking, our every action and activity.
No one to talk to; talk to God.
He loves to hear you call out His name.
No one to ask;
Ask God and be alert to his will for you.
Dear God, Loving Father, help us to always be tuned in to what you want for us. Amen.
Keywords: history
