When Life Isn’t a Piece of Cake, God has Still Got It

August 5, 2012 | 23 comments

 

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.

by | August 5, 2012 | 23 comments

23 Comments

  1. Deb Weaver

    Oh, YES!

    Deb Weaver
    thewordweaver.com

    Reply
  2. Chelle

    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

    Reply
  3. Linda

    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.

    Reply
  4. Susan Tjaden

    Beautiful, beautiful.

    Beautiful words, beautiful cake, beautiful family.

    Happy birthday to your farmer Scott from my farmer Scott and me. 🙂

    Reply
  5. kendal

    and in him all things hold together….happy birthday to the farmer!

    Reply
  6. floyd

    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.

    Reply
  7. Dolly@Soulstops

    yes, keep sharing this encouraging truth, and Happy Birthday to Scott!

    Reply
  8. Abby

    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

    Reply
  9. David Rupert

    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?

    Reply
  10. Amy Hunt

    YES! YES! YES! And, AMEN! again and again! He DOES have it! For sure!

    Reply
  11. Susan

    He really DOES have it. It’s the anchor of our hope 🙂
    Happy birthday, Scott!!

    Reply
  12. Pam

    What a lovely post and what a lovely blog. I found you through Pruning Princesses. I’m thrilled to be a new follower.

    Reply
  13. Jillie

    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!

    Reply
  14. ro.ellott

    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:)

    Reply
  15. Jason Stasyszen

    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.

    Reply
  16. Megan Willome

    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.)

    Reply
  17. Sam Van Eman

    Way to press on, Jennifer and Scott.

    Reply
  18. Bradley J. Moore

    So encouraging and reassuring. Your faith is a beacon for others, I’m sure. And that cake looks pretty good, too! 🙂

    Reply
  19. Dea

    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.

    Reply
  20. Becky

    “… 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!

    Reply
  21. Carrie

    Thank you for this. I needed it – every single word. Blessings to you.

    Reply
  22. Daniel Farrow

    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.

    Reply

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