I've been thinking more about God, and his Omniscience, and about His Omnipresence as well .
Three years ago this month, we had a health scare involving our youngest daughter, who was 5 yrs. old at the time. She had a stomach virus, and became very sick. We took her to the doctor that night, and he did some blood work on her. He told us that her blood platelet count was low, and that he wanted her to come back a few days later to check it again. That was alarming to me because my mother, who passed away in 1991, had a platelet problem when she was in the hospital just before she died. Because my mother seemed to have a fear of doctors, and had not been to one since I had been born, we don't know how long she had this platelet problem.
We took our daughter back to the doctor, and her platelet count was still low. After a few weeks with her pediatrician checking her platelet count, meaning sticking her with a needle, he finally sent here to a hematologist, because of my persistence. During the time she had this low platelet count, I praise God that her platelets have never been dangerously low for that entire six months.
At the time, I was not a believer in reformed theology. During those first few months, when the doctors had no idea what was wrong with her, I read the book of Job. I had read it before, but somehow I missed the sovereignty of God throughout the book, especially chapters 38-42.
The clincher came with these verses:
Job 42:1-6
1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes."
God can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted. We see that in Ephesians 1:11 too:
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
Reading Job gave me peace, and I knew then that God can be trusted, and that He was in control of all things. He knew what was wrong with my daughter even when the doctors did not. I was comforted so much, knowing that my daughter's life was in His hands. That is when God began revealing His truths to me, summed up by this acronym:
Tulip
T - Total Depravity
U - Unconditional Election
L - Limited Atonement
I - Irresistable Grace
P- Perserverance of the Saints
I was not looking for Scripture so that I could believe in Calvinism. It was quite the opposite. I said many times that I would never be a Calvinist. I was looking for Scriptures that would help me understand why this was happening to my daughter. As I searched the Scriptures, God revealed those truths to me, through Scripture, little by little. And, I found the comfort and peace that I was looking for.
My daughter was diagnosed with Chronic ITP, which is Thrombocytopenia. Today, she is 8 yrs. old, and seems to have outgrown it. She no longer bruises easily, is no longer tired, and is a happy, cheerful, little girl. She has been through a lot in her young life. She was premature, spent three weeks in the NICU, and then came home with an apnea monitor that she wore until she was six months old.
It gives me such comfort to know that is working in my life, and that He can be trusted, and that He has all things under His control.
Soli Deo Gloria
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