When Life Isn’t a Piece of Cake, God has Still Got It
Life on planet Earth isn’t always a piece of cake. That may very well be the understatement of the day.
But sometimes, you’ve just got to eat the cake anyway.
The girls light the candles on their father’s birthday cake. It’s decorated with fluffy green cornstalks, reaching heavenward.
“Best corn I’ve seen all year,” says their farmer-father with a chuckle. It’s a drought year, all across the parched Heartland, where corn leaves curl in on themselves and whole fields are crisping.
It’s been ugly.
But this year, just like every other year, my man says these words over and over again: “God’s Got It.” It’s been his mantra for as long as he’s worked those fields. His philosophy for farming has become a theology for living. God is God, and God is good, and even in a dry and weary land, God has actually “got it.”
I reposition the cake for a better photo, bumping a finger into the frosting. I lift a frosted finger to my lips. I taste and see.
These are the sweetest days, no matter what the forecasters say. The Lord is still good, and we only need to taste … to see and to know.
My mother had ordered the cake from a bakery, a little surprise for the birthday boy while we’re here in the northwoods. At the bottom of the cake, the decorator swirled these three words: “God’s Got It.”
In this life, you’ve got to write it down sometimes to remember what you believe — not just in frosting, but on hearts. We believe that God has got it. All of it. This is not just a theological catch-phrase, but an actual way to habitually remember that there is a King in Heaven who holds all things together — even when life isn’t a piece of cake.
And we repeat it to ourselves, on the hot and cloudless days, and when the diagnoses come, and when we’ve gathered in hospice rooms, and over hospital beds, and in ugly days of wild uncertainty. It’s true: What we say to ourselves, and to one another, can determine whether we will live imprisoned or free. Because dark days will come. In this world we will have trouble, but what did Jesus say? “Take heart, for I have overcome the world.”
So we tell it to each other, over and over again. These aren’t just cute words to fit on a cake, but the right words to keep us fit for a life.
It’s why we return every two weeks to the table of grace, with the cup and the loaf. “Do this in remembrance of me,” are the words etched into the altar. We return and remember and receive and repent and repeat. God’s Got It. He has actually and miraculously overcome the world.
We believe this—
that Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, that He came to Earth, and that He died on a cross, … and that when Satan was laughing and the disciples were running scared, God actually and miraculously still had it.
— that Jesus was wrapped in a cloth and buried in a tomb, and a stone was rolled into place. And when His followers grieved and saw nothing but darkness, God still had it.
— that on the third day, in opposition to the laws of nature, Jesus rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. Because — please hear me here — God most assuredly had it.
— And we believe that our King is seated at the right hand of the Father, because it’s true: Our God has still completely and mercifully “got it.”
We’re cutting into the cake when the phone beeps. We’ve received a text, and a friend back home lets us know that about an inch of rain has fallen on our fields. And we thank God for His faithfulness and His goodness.
But even if He hadn’t sent the rain, He is still our Lord,
because He already sent a Savior.
It’s as true today as it was 2,000 years ago in Calvary: Our God who had it then, has got it now, and forevermore shall have it. He’s got it when land is wet, or dry … when hearts are despairing or hopeful … when life is not a piece of cake, and when it is.
He’s got it when it rains, or doesn’t rain, because He reigns.
We pass plates of cake around the table and lift forks to our mouths, and we taste and see, I tell you. We taste and see.
For the Lord is so. very. good.
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Oh, YES!
Deb Weaver
thewordweaver.com
Love this Jennifer. Yes…God does have it!
Thank you for writing this. So many things you said just resonate with me today.
Blessings…Chelle
Yes – if it were not true, I would have no hope in this life.
Happy Birthday to your Scott. He is a man after God’s own heart.
Beautiful, beautiful.
Beautiful words, beautiful cake, beautiful family.
Happy birthday to your farmer Scott from my farmer Scott and me. 🙂
and in him all things hold together….happy birthday to the farmer!
God’s got it… I gotta remember that. I agree, we need to remind one another of the truth’s from our Father. Thanks for another one, I”m listening.
Amen. Preach it. Yes.
yes, keep sharing this encouraging truth, and Happy Birthday to Scott!
Thank you Jennifer for sharing how your family stays focused on God, despite the drought. You’ve encouraged me and countless others I’m sure. Praying for rain. ~ Abby
I like the emphasis you have on repeating the truth to each other. Even when things seem bleak, we have to remember the Faithfulness of our God. that’s why the Jews stacked stones, “so others will remember”
Will you stack corn stalks?
YES! YES! YES! And, AMEN! again and again! He DOES have it! For sure!
He really DOES have it. It’s the anchor of our hope 🙂
Happy birthday, Scott!!
What a lovely post and what a lovely blog. I found you through Pruning Princesses. I’m thrilled to be a new follower.
Jennifer…AMEN and AMEN!!! God’s got it!!! I have remembered this mantra from some of your past posts, and I wish to thank Birthday Boy Scott for this. It has stuck in my cranium. We, too, are struggling through the heat and drought here in Ontario, Canada. Your words are full of hope and acceptance…yes, and Thanks for all that comes to us from Him. Dry times will come, but fear not…HE has overcome, and so will we. Blessings!
I love this…I love your husbands philosophy of farming…and therefore His theology of life…yes…God’s got it…simple and true…and yes…we can taste and see how God He is…right where we are. blessings and happy birthday to Scott:)
We have to speak it and write it down and live it–they are His promises and our lifeline. Love this post, Jennifer. Thanks for the great encouragement.
Tell your man Happy Birthday from me.
(Seeing his name on the cake and the “God’s got it,”–I think of my Scott. I trust God’s got him, too, tho we’re in Year No. 5 of drought, so to speak.)
Way to press on, Jennifer and Scott.
So encouraging and reassuring. Your faith is a beacon for others, I’m sure. And that cake looks pretty good, too! 🙂
My oldest son (we call him Bear) is working in the delta this summer. He grew up the son of a doctor and grown-up country girl moved to town. He is seeing the battle against the drought and I pray he is learning to trust that God’s got it no matter the harvest or lack thereof. I need to remember this as his mom that really needs to believe God’s got it as that boy searches for his path among the corn and the cotton.
“… you’ve got to write to down to know what you believe…” LOVE and needed this truth. You have made me think long and hard these past two days about how essential it is to SPEAK truth. Somehow, mysteriously, my mouth informs my fickle heart in a way that does not happen otherwise. I am now thinking about my mouth as the translator between my head and my heart… handy that it is in between. Thank you, dear one! And I am praying for rain and thankful that your family chooses to trust that God has it, regardless of when it falls. May He richly bless the Lees today!
Thank you for this. I needed it – every single word. Blessings to you.
Oh but I SO want to meet you and your family!!! God will have to make a way for me to come see you there in Iowa or for you and your family to come to Kansas City! God’s definitely got it and you are so blessed! Here’s a really big 😀 for you.