I am writing this while sitting on my back porch with a cup of tea in hand, my earbuds blasting the new Lumineers album, after a long snowy bike ride and isn’t life just so perfect sometimes? Just snippets of it. Even as I sit with red fingertips and frozen toes I wonder at how lovely it all is and how lucky I am that I get to live this messy, crazy life.

There is hardly any snow on the ground and there are only small flurries falling slowly, yet with every shiver I think I fall more in love with life, ya know?

God puts me in these little romantic moments, I think, as a reminder. This very moment. As I literally lose feeling with every breath I take, I look up into the gray, cloudy, sky and remember that He is up there somewhere. He’s watching me always.

And in that very moment-this moment-nothing can touch me. It’s me and Him all the way-no matter what. Partners in crime, best friends, Father and daughter…

I’ve been reading through Revelation and Genesis at the same time lately. I literally go back and forth between books. Chapter by chapter, the story blows me away.

It’s a story with a written ending and great mysteries in between. It’s a story that had a beautiful and yet tragic beginning. It’s a story with a purpose-an intentional story of redemption and hope. I flip the pages back and forth and I realize that the universe is under perfect control...because it has never left the maker's hands, though we have deceived ourselves into believing so.

He clutches us in His hands...He cradles us in His fingertips. We tiny, itty-bitty, humans.

Together, these mighty beings: God, Son of Man, and Spirit, have already saved us. They call to us, announcing the good news that we no longer need to search for who is in authority.

Alpha and Omega. Beginning and end...From Genesis to Revelation...the whole Universe under the mighty guidance of a perfect creator.

Why should I worry? Why should I wonder at my future? I fooled myself into thinking I was on my own. In reality, I have this grand Creator on my side. I never even left His hands….

Someone told me the other day that the Bible tells a story of a great God reaching down to save a people-His people. I have been turning this over and over in my mind and searching for the hidden truth in this message for myself.

I realize that this must be true. When I read back and forth between the beginning and what will someday be the end, I feel the intensity of it all. The message is strong; the calling loud. I focus on the words and they read as a mission….

“So God created mankind in His own image…” (Genesis 1:27).

“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says…” (Revelation 2:29).

“And God said let there be light, and there was light…” (Genesis 1:3).

“Conquerors will march in the victory parade, their names indelible in the Book of Life...” (Revelation 3:5).

So much intentionality, it blows me away!

He was there at the beginning and He has promised us that He will certainly be there at the end. He is present throughout the story and constant in every word that is written.

And in between this great story...in the middle of it all...He created you.

God made the warm sun, He knows every star by name, He inspired the beautiful mountain tops, He summons every breeze, and He breathes life into each of us daily. He is the architect of it all, and He knows His creation. He took a day for each miracle, that He might make it uniquely and wonderfully beautiful.

Do you see the intentionality?

And if this tale of redemption and hope...from the story of creation, to great kingdoms, to battles and wars, of prophets and poets, and shepherds...and wise men...to a small baby in a manger… if this story consistently proves anything, it reveals an intentional, perfect, God.

And if we believe this story to be true, and I do, you can be certain that He made you with this same, glorious, perfect, wonderful, intention.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Doesn’t that make you wonder?

He intended to create you. ‘

So what are you going to do with that?

I’m not even sure I can answer that yet. I’m only just beginning on the quest of getting to know my maker. And just as this bitter cold snow drifts around me, I feel this message fall quietly, like the smallest of whispers, into my ear...

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart…” (Jeremiah 1:5).

You were made with intention. We were made with intention, by the one who is in control. Alpha and Omega. The great Creator.

It’s Him and us. Partners in crime, best friends...Father and children.

I am so grateful for this crazy, messy life...

These little snippets of perfect moments.

With frozen toes, and red fingertips, I rest in this truth.

I am so in love with this life.