All the world

     How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!   How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.  -Psalm 139:17-18a.  God thinks about each individual constantly.  He can do it.  He is God!  But not only is He watching out for everyone in the world, but He is working out His will for all of us as relates to history, and future generations.  The influence you have, the impact you make, the people you meet, the places you go.  All of that is orchestrated by God, and even things that are not in His perfect will (such as situations where someone knowingly sins and goes somewhere or is involved with someone they shouldn't be), God uses the results of that to accomplish His will.  I'll return to that.

     I recently did a DNA test with ancestry (where you spit in a tube and send it in, and they analyze it and determine your background).  My maiden name, Heiden, is German, and I had always thought I was primarily German.  I knew there was a lot of English in there too.  As the picture below shows, English and German are my two biggest ancestries, only in opposite order from what I had thought, with English being the highest, followed by German.  However, I was surprised by a number of other nationalities, including (in order) Scotland, Norway, Ireland, Benin and Togo, Sweden and Demnark, Wales, and Nigeria!  I must add that English and German combined are by far a majority, and everything after Scotland is single digits percentage of my ancestry (Scotland is only 13% itself).  But still, every one of these nations had people in them who contributed to who I am--even African countries!  That was a very interesting surprise, considering my fare complexion--but I am very excited about it!  I don't know all their stories.  Maybe tragedies and sin played a part in some of these relationships. Maybe a deep relationship of seeking God played a part in others,  Maybe beautiful loves stories are among them.  But one thing is sure--God orchestrated each and every person from all these nations.  One way or another, their families made it to North America, and continued onward, until one day, I was born!  I'm not a product of random chance--and neither are you!  Ephesians 1:4 clearly tells us that God chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.  God made it all work out according to His purpoises!

My ancestry breakdown!

     This has made me more in awe of God than ever.  He orchestrated history, and people from many places, to facilitate my existence.  And He did the same for everyone!  He has a plan!  Even someone with a less diverse bloodline, maybe someone whose family has stayed within their own nationality, is still a product of God's plans working out over the years.  Think of a great-great grandma somewhere years ago as a young woman, with two marriage proposals.  God worked to ensure that the right thing happened, and even in cases where it didn't, He was able to use it to make the right thing happen!  On our side of it, there are sins, mistakes, and consequences, but from God's vantage point, He just keeps working out His will.  It's like what Joseph told his brothers in Genesis 50:20, As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good...  A favorite verse of mine is Romans 8:28, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  I chose this as my life verse when I was in sixth grade.  It gives so much hope and encouragement.  We can't ruin God's purposes.  It was His plan to create you, and nothing could stop it!  If God is for you, who can be against you (Romans 8:31)?  

 

     We serve a very big, amazing, awesome God!  Praise Him today, and then, live your life as an important part of history, because you are!  Live His plans for you!