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Paul spent the first eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans showing the unfathomable plans of God in redemption, culminating in Paul’s impassioned doxology. Here, I’m using a little different language to broadly summarize Romans 1-11 in hopes of rekindling a little more “Oh!”

Parenting is hard. Anyone who has ever done it in any form will confirm. It’s a roller coaster of joy and frustration. Children bring exhaustion and perseverance unlike anything else. We have four of them, and they hold some of our greatest delights and biggest trials.

It’s been several months that I’ve felt the Spirit chipping away at something. Although He’s probably been doing it all my life, it’s been significantly evident lately.

During the Spring and Summer, our back patio turns into our own little arboretum. We have several flower beds and large flowerpots that are filled with a variety of annuals. As the flowers emerge, the whole area comes alive with a huge variety of bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, etc. As you watch for a little while, you’ll see that some types of bees like certain shapes and types of flowers, and other types of bees like others. Same with the butterflies. They all have a preference and go to the same flowers over and over.

I write (and talk) a lot about God’s sovereignty over, well, everything. It can be annoying to my friends sometimes, but mainly, I’m just reminding myself. God has total dominion and works all things according to the counsel of His will down to the tiniest detail. I anchor my life to this truth. My faith in God’s sovereign rule enables me to confidently live without fear in the understanding that there is perfect purpose in everything I experience both the good and (from my human viewpoint) the bad. Nothing that happens is accidental. Nothing is meaningless. It is all part of the Master’s plan for my good and His glory.