The Little Things

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things to the glory of God.” – I Corinthians 10:31
 
This week I have learned time and time again that God is not only in control of the big things in life, but the little things as well. In the words of Oswald Chambers:
 
The shallow aspects of life are ordained by Him equally as much as the profound. God ordains even the shallow things of life, such as eating and drinking, walking and talking.
 
Multiple times this week I have found myself in a very normal or “shallow” situation, asking God to put His hand over it. I started first seeking Him in the littlest things, like desperately not wanting to get lice, not being able to fall asleep at night, or having my teeth hurt from too many citrus fruits. These are the kinds of things I have never thought that God would really care about, so I didn’t think to pray about them, but he does care about even the smallest, shallowest things in our life.
I then began to pray when I found myself in situations that I couldn’t control. Monday afternoon at the orphanage I was holding an adorable, tiny, month and a half old baby named José. He was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open, but he was restless and wouldn’t let himself drift into sleep. I simply prayed that God would allow his little body to rest in my arms and fall into a peaceful sleep. After about two minutes of singing to Him, he was fast asleep. He didn’t even wake up a half hour later when I put him back in his crib. God does care about the small things. Later that night we went to the park for sports ministry. One of the boys that I played basketball with last week, Daniel, saw me and invited to play again. It was funny because instead of playing “Horse” we played “Cabello”. Afterward we started talking and he began telling me about his desire to learn English so that he could someday work as a mechanic on a ship. So from that point on our conversation was in English, so that he could practice. We began talking about relationships when he mentioned that one of his girlfriend’s names was Abigail. He then proceeded to tell me that he had three girlfriends and one other girl that he loves but has never told her. He asked me how many boyfriends I had, and was shocked when my answer was one.  While our conversation started out very shallow, God directed it into something deeper. We began talking about what it meant to love someone and what a relationship based on love looks like. I never would have thought that I would give relationship advice to a twenty-one year old Guatemalan, but God uses seemingly shallow things, like relationship advice, for a purpose.  Those are just a few examples of the way God has revealed himself to me in small ways this week.