“Where were you?”

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4)

A Thursday morning prenatal doctor’s appointment didn’t go as planned for Kendal, our daughter-in-law. An overly quiet technician was an early warning that concerns about the size of our granddaughter would require a doctor’s voice. Kendal sensed it…

Minutes later Dr. Towzer gave context to the concern… little Button (the nick-name that has been given our little girl until her birth date) didn’t seem to be getting the nourishment that she needed to continue her prenatal journey…

The course of treatment was bed rest until next Tuesday when 37 weeks of development will have been passed and then a medically induced labor and delivery will follow.

Kendal and Erik left the hospital with a schedule and an action plan… and a list of unanswerable questions. Their infant daughter is a tiny mystery, and the heaviness of their lack of control is loaded on them.

The hours between Thursday and Tuesday will not be easy. They will be filled with uncertainty, with concern… but they are not wasted hours. For in these hours we will all learn, perhaps more clearly than ever before, that God, and only God knows.

Before Button was ever imagined by Erik and Kendal, she was present in the mind of God. He knows her. Not vaguely or generally… but every intricate cell of her body, and every second of her life. He is with her, even right now. His calendar doesn’t have a birthday of next Tuesday… it has detail about her that was written before the foundation of the world.

And so, much like Job, our questions yield to His questions… they make room for a vastness that we can’t comprehend. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” The question of God echoes in our ears without a tone of anger or frustration, but with assurance and hope. “I’ve got this… I’m in this… I love this little girl… so much more than you could know.”

In these questions we find strength. God did not miss something important. He didn’t forget to check in on Kendal a couple of weeks ago… He’s crazy about Kendal, and Erik… and yes, this masterpiece of creation we call Button.

Little Button has climbed her way onto lots of prayer lists across the country… in hope… in confidence… in expectation… of our God doing what only our God can do.

Before the answers come… we find great comfort in the question of God… “Where were you…?”

On Tuesday, in Tuesday, during Tuesday… and before Tuesday – our little Button in the powerful hands of our loving God.