God of Details

“What is the value of your soul to God? Could your worth be defined by any amount of money? God doesn’t abandon or forget even the small sparrow He has made. How then could He forget or abandon you? What about the seemingly minor issues of your life? Do they matter to God? Of course, they do! So, you never need to worry, for you are more valuable to God than anything else in this world” Luke 12:6-7 TPT.

Have you ever wondered if God really cares about the day-to-day details of your life? How could the God of the whole universe really care about where you live, what job you have, or how you spend your free time? I assure you He does. It is our choice whether or not we welcome Him into those areas and allow Him to work and perfect what He knows is in our best interest. Sometimes, I don’t recognize when He is working behind the scenes because it’s not super obvious. But there are other times when I can see His hand and realize that it is only His intervention that could have made everything come together so brilliantly.

At Christmas time this year, my family and I took a trip to Sevierville, Tennessee. We rented a large three-story cabin and after staying a couple nights by ourselves, some friends of ours joined us for the rest of the week. (There is a whole other story about how both my sons helped rescue our friends at the bottom of the hill when we all got snowed in, but that will have to wait for another time.)

My friend Christine and I were celebrating our 60th birthdays, which were only a couple weeks apart. One of the things Christine and I wanted to do was to go to Dollywood to see the six million sparkling Christmas lights. No one else really wanted to go, so early in the afternoon we headed to Pigeon Forge with great excitement and anticipation with what the evening would hold.

As we approached Dollywood, the traffic was horrific and we waited for over an hour just to get into the parking lot. We finally rounded the corner and approached the parking lot booths where we were supposed to pay. In front of the booths was a sign stating that all the parking lots were completely full. The parking attendant told us we would have to go to a local park about four miles away and catch a trolley back to Dollywood. I knew this would take another hour or more. He told us we were welcome to look at the last lot on our way out to see if there were any open spaces. It was a glimmer of hope and I jumped on it. I started praying, “Lord, you know we came all this way to see the lights. You know how important this is to both of us. I pray you would make a way where there seems to be no way and open a parking spot for us in the last parking lot so we won’t have to catch a trolley back here. We know you care about every detail of our lives and I ask you to open a space for us.”

Our car crawled slowly back up the hill where we had just waited over an hour. As we approached the final lot where we could park, I was still praying and believing. We pulled up to the place where we had to turn left to go back to the highway or right to the very last parking lot. Only two cars were ahead of us and the lot to the right was blocked with orange cones. At that very moment, we saw a man walking down the hill to the right, holding up his hand with four fingers. He was shouting and pointing, “Four empty spaces up there.” I got the attention of the lady directing the traffic and pointed up the hill. I told her one of those spots was for us. She smiled and waved us through the blockade. We didn’t see any empty spots, but another person coming down the hill waved to us and showed us where we could park. Christine zoomed up the hill and pulled into the empty space. We were both laughing and thanking God that He had made a way for us to stay there. We didn’t even have to pay the $25 parking fee! We hopped out of the car and I noticed a tram waiting to take people back down the hill to the entrance. The tram was jam-packed, but I asked God to help us find two spaces. I ran ahead of Christine and shouted, “I need two spaces, just two spaces.” The people on the tram were looking at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care. One mom looked at my determination and reached down and moved a stroller into her lap and said, “Here is one space.” I was thrilled. Then I shouted “One more space, I just need one more space, anyone?” A couple of men told me they would be glad to scoot over and just at that moment, Christine arrived at the tram and we jumped in the last two seats. We were both laughing and thanking God because we knew it would be quite a while before another tram would arrive to that station. As we got on the tram the man at the back of the tram announced on the speaker, “No more passengers, please!” He then proceeded to tell us that there were over 20,000 people in the park that day and to be prepared to wait a couple hours for anything we wanted to do, including the restrooms.

As we approached the entrance, we saw another long line to get into the park. I was looking around for any alternatives so we wouldn’t have to waste time standing in line. I noticed a self-serving ticket machine, but we would not be allowed to use our military discount. I asked a worker about the discount and she waved us to the front of the line. She brought us to the self-serve ticket machine and punched in the discount for us and we went right into the park. We were amazed at yet another detail that God had worked out for us. We marched right up to where someone was taking pictures of guests at the front of the park with no line and got our picture taken.

All evening, we prayed and asked God for each thing we needed or wanted to do. We prayed for a place to get dinner. All the restaurants had a two or three-hour wait; one was even six hours. We stopped and prayed and asked God to help us find some place we could get something to eat without waiting that long. We rounded the next corner to see a short line for French fries with gravy. That is all they served, but we were thrilled. We barely waited five minutes and we were sitting at the very last open table outside eating our French fries, smothered in hot roast beef gravy. After dinner, we happened to be walking through a small area with some local artists and crafters. I looked up and saw a tiny “Ladies” sign with an arrow. Christine and I walked right in to the restroom without waiting at all.

We were in amazement how when we invited God into every detail, He showed us How much He cared for us. We felt His presence and guidance in the middle of thousands of people. We acted like we were royalty and were expecting to get special treatment. Let me tell you a secret--we are royalty. We are sons and daughters of the Most-High King.

As we were finishing up our evening together, I really wanted some hot chocolate. Every place we passed only had coffee and the lines were super long. So, I prayed and asked God to help us find hot chocolate. At this point, my faith was so strong I couldn’t wait to see what God would do for us. We walked through a tunnel of beautiful lights, I looked to my right and saw a sign: “Homemade, Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.” You will never guess what my very favorite flavor of hot chocolate is—yep—salted caramel! I took off running, leaving Christine behind. She started to laugh when she finally saw the sign where I was standing and within five minutes, we were drinking steaming hot chocolate and eating a huge, hot yummy pretzel. I forgot to mention that we asked God to help us find dessert too, it was at the hot chocolate stand. We sat amazed at all God had done for us that night. It is truly a special time I will never forget.

We found out that God loves to show off. He loves when we lean into Him for what would seem like unimportant details to anyone else. He cares, He loves, He is able. I know He was looking at both of us that night saying, “I’ve got you, girls. I will take care of it.” It was so amazing. Don’t hesitate to allow Him in every area of your life. Watch and see what He will do!