The definition of

means to have supreme power or authority over something.

is defined as having the highest quality, degree, character, etc…

God as SOVEREIGN, therefore, means He is the One as the person in charge who has the highest quality of character with the power to influence all command, opinion, and behavior.

His reign, His vision, His knowing is ALL encompassing as God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

There is nothing He misses in your life…in my life. There is nothing that escapes His notice.

It is His choosing how and when to intervene in our lives and in what matter…sometimes it is in an obvious way (that some would call a miracle), sometimes it is more subtle (we could excuse it as random), and sometimes He uses people or creation to intersect with our existence to make a difference or to make Him known more fully to us.

In our grief or troubled times, it becomes essential to our healing to recognize and accept the One we will never understand fully…God will never bow to our requests or demands or time table: and nor should He.

Truly, do we want to serve and worship a God we could control and completely understand? Would that be GOD or something we create to make OUR personal world a better place?

Well, God revealed His sovereignty to me this morning.

I must confess I have been caught in the grips of wallowing lately…I want my life to look different, to have had a different outcome that would make my present circumstances so much easier (on me), where, if things were different, I may not have to even handle the situation at all because someone else could deal with things in my place!

I am leaning heavily on the Lord as the absolute Sovereign Christ who sees me…but I guess today He wanted me to see Him!

We have a wood burning stove- our house is freezing because I do not want to turn the heat on yet but frankly, I was too lazy to make a fire. In the past, we had a screen on the top of the chimney “flute” (?) to keep the critters out. Apparently, it is gone because we have had some birds come to visit our wood stove and peck around inside the tube that feeds into the house and on the glass that looks into my living room.

To be honest, they freak me out. The sound of them freaks me out.

My kids are usually home, or my husband is, to help these guys escape out the front door or the door wall, with me hollering from nearby, as the poor ash covered bird flies into our living room!

But, this morning, I was home alone when the pecking began.

I hoped they would just go away or I could ignore them as I go about my business…but the pecking and wing flapping inside the stove is startling and alarming to say the least! I could not turn a blind eye to the poor birds and hope to accomplish anything productive!

I sat at the computer trying to think through this dilemma while I read a devotional. The verse that started the devotion was Matthew 6:26~

Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

I looked at my stove and decided to free the bird! In response to my effort come TWO birds flying out of the wood stove and out the door wall immediately.

Startling but cool….way to go Amy!

I move onto sending a few emails, I read a second devotional. This time it begins with a verse from Luke 12:24~

Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds!

What the heck? TWO verses about birds?

Then I hear the darn wing flapping and pecking again!

So I decide to free him as well- this time without hesitation because I am a professional bird rescuer!

Now, I know I need to do something different…I know that when a fire is going in the stove, smoke will come out the chimney and will keep those birds away. It’s cold in the house anyway so what is there to lose?

My husband had the stove all filled with wood ready to light with our propane torch lighter-thing. All I needed to do was light it up and hold the flame on the wood until the fire took hold.

Easy.

As I was lighting the wood I heard the wing flapping again.

Oh no! A bird was BACK IN THE TUBE heading to the now burning wood in the stove with smoke everywhere!

I quickly stopped the torch and shut the door in a panic thinking that a bird would fly out at me all covered in flames!

But I could hear that bird….He was either going to die of smoke inhalation or flame…and it was my fault with little for me to do about it to stop this horrible thing from happening.

I stared at the smoke stack with horror while listening to him flap for his life!

I remembered those Scriptures…and I began to pray those Scriptures:

Lord, You said You cared for the birds in Your Word…You just showed me those verses this morning!! You said how You feed them and house them because You care for them…You used them as an example for how much more You love us… So, please God save this bird! You know my heart and that my desire is to not harm Your creation like this! Please, either save Him Yourself or bring him to me so I can be used for that purpose…Don’t let it end this way!

I decided to open the door to the stove to see if he would come out.

Nothing happened and all was silent. Maybe he was gone after all…

The flame of the wood had barely taken hold so the choice was now made to keep moving in the direction I had begun…I needed to light this fire so no more birds would come in.

I picked up my torch and began to light the wood again (after I had banged on the shoot with a broom!). Suddenly, a big black something popped out of the stove and rammed into my shirt! I barely felt it, I screamed of course, but I did not see what it was or where it went. Frankly, it looked like a piece of paper (the ash) that was in the stove that had burned and flew out. I looked around the room and saw no ash or anything else unusual.

The fire officially took hold so I closed the door and went outside to get wood to stack inside for reloading the stove later.

When I came back in is when I saw it.

That bird must have been what hit me and went straight to my couch where the big picture window was!! He was officially IN MY HOUSE!

I quick opened the door wall again, grabbed my handy broom, and swished at him a few times to get him away from the couch…until he escaped!!

I could not believe this!!

Talk about a direct answer to prayer…yes for a minor thing but it was a major experience and revelation!!

Not only was I NOT a bird killer but I firmly believe that my Sovereign God cared enough for me to show up in my living room this morning!

Using these very specific Scriptures and then a hands on learning experience revealed that God sees me in my circumstances…He knows I am feeling pressed by my situation…He knows how much my family hurts with the absence of my father in law, my sister in law, and the apathy of other family members. He knows I feel alone when my husband travels for his job. He knows how inadequate I feel when trying to balance work with parenting. He knows I am angry over how “all this” has come to be.

And He shows up for me anyhow.

He accepts me for who I am and where I am emotionally.

In the joy I felt after that final bird escaped without injury, I praised the Lord in freedom myself!

Does He not care for us more than the ravens? Does He not provide for us more than He does the birds?

Yes, praise the Lord: yes He does.

Not one thing in my circumstance has changed…but it does not need to because I AM CHANGED within the circumstance. I feel equipped and strengthened to keep moving through my day…to get up and do it again tomorrow… and the day after that.

When I look to sky and see a bird, I am going to remember how much God loves me and is looking out for me…He loves me enough to keep me where I am in life to grow me spiritually, emotionally, and mentally…It would do me no good to simply have my trials lifted without me facing any effort or discomfort- that it is not realistic for life or living.

I am thankful to be given JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, SELF-CONTROL, and LOVE as I am enduring and persevering under the guidance of MY ultimate Authority.

My prayer is that you would be encouraged by that as well and embrace what our Sovereign God has to offer.

Here is a picture of my finished product…when I sent it to my husband I said “it’s messy but it’s cozy”…like my life!