“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 4:5-6 (NASB)
My favorite word in this scripture is “acknowledge”. Amazing things can happen when we acknowledge God in every area of our life. When we acknowledge Him, He acknowledges us. I heard someone once define devotion to God as “the vibrant personal conviction that God knows me, hears me and cares about me.” If we live with this conviction, we can go through anything. Acknowledging God, is to open the eyes of our heart and take Christ with us in every part of our everyday lives.
There is no greater satisfaction we can have, than knowing we are in God’s will. He never promised to make our path easy or super joyful, but it’s satisfying to know that we are where He wants us to be, according to His plan, not ours. That can only come by acknowledging Him as we start each day. Devotion to God can only grow when we realize that He is lining up the people we meet and the places we go, all in His timing and according to His good purpose.
I used to regularly attend Zumba fitness dance classes at my local Fitness center, but since my husband died five years ago, and Covid changed the scheduling, I slacked off in attending any classes. Recently I have been feeling that I should return to those Zumba classes, so I looked up the fitness class schedule, found the day and time, and saw it was led by a teacher who I never knew, but I made the effort to return anyway. It turns out I loved the class and planned to attend regularly.
I was on my way to my second class one morning and I asked for God’s perfect timing throughout the day. After arriving, I saw a lady in my class, who I hadn’t seen since I had been to classes five years ago. During our small talk, I told her that I recently retired, but then the music started, so we stopped talking.
In between songs, she asked me how I liked retirement, which is always a question I think long and hard about, before answering. I don’t always feel like sharing the story of Jon’s accident, with just anyone, so I usually just smile and answer “It’s fine” and leave it at that.
As we kept chatting in between songs, she asked me how I now spend my time, so I decided to tell her about Jon’s accident and brain injury, and how it happened one month before I retired. She stopped and looked intently at me and said, “I’m an expert in brain injury!” At first I thought she was identifying herself as a doctor, but then she went on to share that her own son also had a serious skull fracture and brain injury from falling off a balcony in college 25 years ago. He survived it, but had been through seizures, speech therapy, and learning to walk and talk all over again. Today, he lives with her but is fairly independent, with some physical and mental deficits. He has come a long way, and survived in more ways than the doctors had expected.
As I listened to her, I was stunned to find all this out, wondering how I never had this conversation with her years ago. Needless to say, we had a lot in common, and our sons are even the same age. We remained talking long after the class, and exchanged phone numbers. She had every right to call herself an expert in brain injury, after caring for her own son for the past 25 years.
Our conversation and my return to Zumba classes was no coincidence. God was acknowledged in the start of my day, and He brought together two mothers of adult sons, the same age, with a similar injury, at the right time and place. I thought I was being led back to Zumba classes because I needed the exercise, but it was slightly more than that.
If we ask for God’s perfect timing, He works out His divine providence so that we meet exactly who we are meant to meet. It’s just one example of how God connect us to others who are going through a similar situation.
God is all knowing, and He knew five years ago that she and I would have that conversation one day. He knows all that we are going through today, and who He has lined up for us to meet tomorrow. His thoughts are far above our thoughts and His ways are unfathomable, but one thing we can be sure, that God knows us, He loves us and cares for us in every aspect of our day.
Lord, we acknowledge you in all our ways, knowing you care for us and want to be involved in every aspect of our lives. Whatever we are going through, we devote ourselves to you as you lead us in your perfect will and in the straightest paths. Amen