During July we’re focusing on God’s revelation. Please see the Monthly Prayer Focus page to read our strategic prayer request for this month.

By Erin Duplechin

I was washing dishes in a large plastic bowl inside a darkened, dirt-floor hut. A few small, battery-powered bulbs provided limited light for my task. I was a brand-new missionary, just months into my jungle life, and I was struggling. There was mud under my feet, soapy water in between in my fingers, and a cloud of disillusion in my heart. My youngest, who was just newly two at the time, was already in bed, exhausted from another day of play in the village. I was tired too, beyond tired, but there was work to be done.

My older daughter beckoned me away from my job: “Mama, let’s go look at the stars.”

“Just a minute, baby, Mama’s almost done.”

I scrubbed harder, faster. I just wanted to finish the task, dry my hands and be done with the day’s work. I found my way outside, guided by a three year old hand. We stood outside and looked up, the two of us amazed at the clear, black sky filled with tiny, far away orbs of light.

My daughter had been asking a lot of questions then; questions about God and where things came from and who made all these stars and trees and flowers.

“Mama, who made the stars?” she asked.

“Jesus did, baby.”

“Why?”

“Because He likes to make beautiful things.”

We sat in a few more moments of silence.

“Mama, Jesus must be God.”

Truth shone bright and star-like. My child, a little girl, somehow knew that everything was made by Him and for Him and that He’s holding it all together. She’d had a revelation. It’s funny how it doesn’t take much for a child to believe.

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and
is supreme over all creation.
For through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see…
Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
and he holds creation together.
Colossians 1:15-17

He was holding the night sky and stars in His hands; He was holding the jungle villages and the coconut trees.

And He was holding me together, too. There in that jungle house when I had mud on my feet and doubt in my heart; when I forgot that He made me for Himself and reconciled me to God.

He holds me still- when I pour myself into the task, when the to-dos seem endless and exhausting. When I scrub dirt-stained laundry and children. When I homeschool and scour pots and pans. All this work.

How do I find intimacy with Him when I feel so exhausted?

It’s a question I continue to ask on hard days. When I keep working, but the duties just keep returning day after day. When it’s hard to find joy. These are the days when I need the revelation again.

Because that night I looked up at the stars and I remembered; everything became clear again. The tiny spheres of light shone right through me, the epiphany leading me straight to Him. Jesus must be God.

And now I think upon the sneaking glances with God between dishes and kids yelling and me yelling. The gratitude songs I sing as I wring out wet clothes and dry dishes. The flowers my girls pick from our yard that seem to magically grow back instantly in this lush, green jungle. The Bible stories read and the prayers prayed. The grace that comes in morning breezes. The rain that fills up water tanks and makes gardens grow. By Him, for Him.

Jesus must be God. The Keeper of the stars and my heart.

I know there are moments when I need to lay down the sponge and look at the stars, but I think I need to remember that He’s with me in the duties too, that the Son star shines bright during long days full of chores and mothering.

That night was three years ago now. I remember lingering awhile in the holy moment, my daughter and I, letting the revelation sink in: He’s holding it all together. Christ, the fullness of God, He’s holding you and me. He fashioned sky and stars and us. Jesus must be God.

Erin is mother of two and wife to Kevin.