All is Ordained.

I think there is something very powerful hidden in the idea that everything is ordained by the Lord.  There is a security evoked, a comfort bestowed, a mystery understood. It is something I have been meditating on in this current season of my life—a season characterized by waiting, by lots of unknowns, by transition, by moving pieces and seeming instability, by an unraveling of sorts.  And yet, it is only in this season of movement and change that I have found a wellspring of peace through the promise that He whispers to the heart seeking constancy: all is ordained, daughter.

But what does it mean, this idea of everything being ordained?  

After spending time thinking about this concept and these words that the Lord has been speaking in my heart, He has revealed it to be a very profound truth: Nothing happens without the Father’s intimate presence.  Contemplate that. Not a thing happens, not a moment passes, not a second hides from the Father’s very personal, very intimate presence. This, my dear sisters, is perhaps the greatest gift we could ask for, the greatest truth we might unfold, because it sheds light on a with-ness that is unparalleled:

In the midst of ordinary, mundane days—He is here.

In the midst of moving pieces and seeming heart-quakes—He is here.

In the midst of heartbreak and painful seasons—He is here.

In the midst of crumbling and rebuilding—He is here.

In the midst of new seasons and dry seasons—He is here.

In the midst of stagnant relationships—He is here.

In the midst of sadness and joy, in surprises and painful predictions—He is here.

In the midst of a crippling ache for holiness—He is here.

In the midst of the healing, in the desired freedom, in the spilled blood and the tender bruises—my dear sister, He is very much here.

He is here in our aching hearts, in our hopeful futures, in our prevalent past, in our every waking desire.

He is, after all, in our very midst.  He took on this role with a resounding fiat as He sanctified and integrated and ordained all things when His very light became clothed, touched, transformed, converted into our flesh.  

No longer is He only a God with us, He is a God one with us.

He kissed goodbye the throne which bred separation and humbly kissed the dirt we were sinking into, claiming and ordaining it all through the blood He spilled upon it and the water He poured into it.  And because of this, sisters, we now walk as a people of light, with our every moment, movement, thought, desire, ache, and prayer ordained by the King who became flesh.  

He is no longer distant—He is oh, so very close.  Here in this closeness, we cannot escape the sovereign majesty of the God who is Creator and Redeemer.  He works only for your good, He works only for your becoming. The only place we now come undone is in the very fold of his hand which holds you.  

You are held, sister.  You are held in the palm of the Hand of the God who is in our midst, who is one with you—so breathe in the deep peace He is calling you to and let yourself sink deep into the bloodstained dirt that is no longer the source of your undoing but is rather the very soil for your blooming and becoming.  Repeat the words: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done and trust that in the very moments you feel Him close and in the painful moments you do not feel Him, His love remains with you, wrapped up in the mystery of His Will.  

Here it is, sister.  Here is the little truth that changes everything:  The God who ordains all things does not stay outside of them, but becomes one with all and becomes one with you.  And because he is one with you, he is intimately inside the process of your becoming, guiding every movement, every desire, and every thought toward your fulfillment.  He is drawing you closer and deeper with each brave, stumbling step you take into His Mystery

Trust in the process.  Trust in the becoming. Trust that it is all ordained.  

And when you have cultivated the roots of this trust, arise in it and let freedom reign.

Who has commanded and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it? – Lamentations 3:37

Originally published on arisebeloved.com on March 13, 2020.