the greenest grass around

As many of you know, we lost our youngest son last year. It has been the hardest thing I have ever had to work through. If you have experienced grief before, you know that it does not play by our rules. 

There are days of ups and downs, detours, speedbumps, and full-blown wrecks. On other days, it seems like we are progressing and finding our new normal, if it will ever seem normal.

Grief also makes you think about things you wouldn’t usually think about. This is where we are today with “What can God do with one?”

My husband thinks out loud. I think internally. We process things differently, to say the least. Getting ready for bed, my husband states that he has thought about having more kids…

To any woman who thinks she is done having kids, this is a total “what on Earth!” moment. Definitely for this almost 40-year-old mom. So, as I attempted to recover my facial expressions, which ranged from shock, disbelief, horror, anxiety, excitement, back to fear, shock, and anxiety, I asked, “Is this an actual conversation you want to have or are you just thinking out loud?”

Thankfully, he said he was just thinking out loud.

But he made the comment that all we had was our oldest son and that he wished we would have had more kids to begin with.

Do not get me wrong. I have thought about this too from time to time, but at the end of the day, I know God gave us two healthy boys to love, cherish, and mold for him. Yes, He took Jordan home sooner than I would have liked. But all in all, God has always provided.

This conversation got me thinking. Maybe it’s the fact that I am an only child, so the number one does not bother me as much as my husband, who is one of five.

But what can God do with one?

Well, what can’t God do with one? We know that Matthew 19:26 says that “with God all things are possible.” Not some things, but ALL things. There isn’t anything God can’t do.

In Matthew 14, we see Jesus take five loaves of bread and two fish and feed over 5,000 people! Let that sink in. He took five loaves of bread and two fish. (side note: according to Church Times in the UK, Jesus most likely ate freshwater fish like carp, catfish, or tilapia during that time period. So no 2,000 lb tuna.) Moreover, feed THOUSANDS of people.

Suppose that would have been you or I. We and the rest of the five thousand would have gone hungry. But not with God. God uses ordinary people and things to accomplish so much.

We see this trend over and over again in the Bible.

Matthew 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Jesus already told us in Matthew that the mustard, although the smallest seed, grows into the largest tree. “Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” Matthew 13:32.

God took one boy named David and defeated literal giants. “Then he (David) took his staff in his hand and choose five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:40. Again, look what God did with ONE.

We see another example with Abraham. God promised him a son, and because of Abraham’s faith and obedience, God Promises to make his descendants as numerous as the stars. Genesis 22:16-17 “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” Again and again, we see God taking small, ordinary things and people to use in big ways. Nothing is impossible with God.

Lastly, what did God do with ONE baby boy born in a manger? He gave us all the gift of salvation. The greatest thing of all.

So don’t ever assume that God cannot use you or what you have. You are never too small or insignificant for God. You only have to be available.