The following is a transcript of a Raised Catholic podcast episode. To listen to the episode, click here.

Today is episode 109: Hail, Providence

Hi friends, before we get into this week’s episode, I have a bit of an update for you and a favor to ask. Well, after lots of years of thinking about it, I finally got some help in putting together all of my projects under one website umbrella. At kerrycampbell.org, you will now find all of my podcasts, writing, and if you’re local to me, information about my preschool music classes too. While you’re there checking it out, I’d ask you to please subscribe so that I can send you a monthly email love letter with updates, encouragement, and links to some of my favorite things. Special thanks to my friend Shannon Broderick, who put the site together with such professionalism, kindness, and care. If you would like to hire Shannon for your own web development needs, please reach out to me through kerrycampbell.org and I would be most happy to connect you.  I honestly could not recommend Shannon more highly!

Okay, so this week’s topic is the Providence of God: what it is, what it is not, and how we can rely on God’s providential hand to help us. “Hail, Providence” is the alma mater where my daughter went to school, and I remember when we first sang it at a freshman orientation event I thought, this is a sign that we are in the right place. Gosh, I love signs and I love the idea of Providence, of God reaching into our circumstances in the details for the good.

The dictionary definition of Providence is “the protective care of God or of nature as a spiritual power” and “timely preparation for future eventualities”. I love the idea of God’s hand steering us exactly where we need to be, and I have seen this happen many times, but for a long time I believed a wrong equation about Providence, and here it is: 

God’s Providence + our own hard work = a life without suffering. 

Well friend, I worked that equation for a long time, but the older I got, the more I saw that the math just did not add up. Though God made and loves each one of us, there is not a human alive who has not, does not, or will not suffer. We all find ourselves in places we don’t want to be. Things happen to us which we cannot control. We all make mistakes and hopefully, we make a shift or a change when it is in our power to do that, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that life is not a linear process. It’s not math. As I get older, I see the providence of God as more ‘benevolent force’ than ‘bearded sky God moving pieces around on a chess board’ and I’m understanding more the truth that God’s ways really are higher, more creative, and yes, better than mine, and that the arc of God’s timing is long, sometimes longer than we would like.

Probably the most famous scripture that refers to Providence is Romans 8:28 – “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And I love this one just as much as the next guy, but in the span of my life, I find myself frequently going back to the ‘all things’ part of this verse, reminding myself that God works even in the hard things, even in the things we don’t want, even in the scary or bewildering things. God is working in all things. Trusting in the Providence of God does not mean that we seek out those hard things – God forbid, or that we don’t work to correct harm or injustice such as we have seen this week, but it does mean that we can find God working in the midst of these events, and maybe even working through us, for our good and the good of all of His people. We may not always have the full picture of how that happens exactly on this side of Heaven, but we can participate in it as the Body of Christ that we are.

Now that I’ve lived a bit of life, I can look back and clearly see the hand of Providence working in my life for good, even when I could not see it at the time. God moving me to connect with a person, an idea, inspiration or encouragement, a place or experience, a mentor or book or a podcast that helped me to see something in a new way, a job or opportunity or other open door – oh friend, I could tell you some stories about how God moved me in these ways, and I’d love to hear yours, too. As we look back, we can see the Providence of God in big, life-changing ways and in small shifts that enabled big change over time – and when I can see and recognize all of that, it helps me to trust that God is still at work in this mysterious and abundant way for me and for the people I love, and for the ones I don’t, too.

As we close today, I’d invite you to look back in your own life to a time when you felt the benevolent guidance of God ushering or moving you to intersect with a person, an idea, an experience, a place, or a circumstance that you now know changed your life for the good, and which maybe affected other lives around you, too. I’ve always thought that if we knew the interior part of each person’s life, it would be a movie we’d watch over and over, a book we’d never put down, and friend, your life is no exception. Making a study of your own life and of how God is showing up in it is a great faith practice for us all.

So, let’s settle in here a minute. Let’s take a breath and just answer these questions in our own spirits.

What was a time in your life where you thought, “I don’t know how I’ll get through this,” but then something shifted to help you to move you forward, maybe in a small way, whether in your thinking or physical circumstance? Could God have been at work for you at that time in some way?

Who is a person who changed or expanded your thinking on a topic that made you more open, more kind or loving, or who enabled or directed an action you took that changed how you lived your life from that point on? How did you meet this person? Do you remember? What were the circumstances around how you connected, and might God have been present in that for you?

As you look at your vocation or work or even your interests, what were the circumstances that led you there? What influenced your decisions or your direction then, and what or who is guiding you now toward your next steps? Is it possible that God is working in one of these vocational situations, even on a very winding road, which is kind of God’s favorite, but is it possible that God is working in that right now for your good?

What’s a book, movie, podcast, or song that inspires you? How did you come to find it? Does it show up at various points in your life when you really need it? How did or does this piece of art change, comfort or guide you? Do you have a story about that? Do you believe that God works in this kind of stuff?

Finally, where are you today, friend? Physically, emotionally, spiritually: where and how do you find yourself today? Is there something in today’s circumstances that you suspect God might have had a hand in? Some small detail of God showing off and showing you a particular kindness? Let’s stop a moment and just say thanks in our spirits for how He works for the good in this day that He made for us.

Well, I’m grateful for you today, friend. Thanks so much for being with me. If you need me, you can find me on Instagram @kerrycampbellwrites or on my new website at kerrycampbell.org. Thanks so much for rating, reviewing, subscribing and most importantly, sharing this podcast with a friend.  That really makes a difference in growing our community, so thanks. If you’d like to support this podcast financially, there’s a way for you to do that in the show notes, along with some resources related to today’s episode, so do check all of that out, but before we go, let’s pray together. Today I’ll say a prayer for us that I routinely pray for my grown kids and for lots of dear ones in my life, as I entrust them and their circumstances to God who is Love, and who can always be trusted in Providence to be working for their good.

So, let’s pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

God, please affect our thoughts, what we see, hear, and speak. Please affect our emotions, our actions, and our direction. Please impact the people that we will connect with in this day, and the ideas that will come to us. Send us friends and mentors and good opportunities, and thank you for the doors that you open for us in love. Help us to experience you as a friend today, to see and recognize you both in our suffering and our joy, Inspire, guide, protect and defend us, mind, body and spirit in the name of Jesus and wrapped in the mantle of our mother, Mary, we pray.  God, I entrust all of these dear ones to you, amen.

Thanks for listening today, friend. May you experience the kindness of God’s Providence today in your life in a way that you can see and feel. That’s my deep prayer for you today, and I’ll see you next time.

Show Notes 

This week we explore the concept of Providence – what it is, what it is not, and how we learn to depend on the hand of Providence for ourselves by looking back over our own lives.

If you’d like to connect with me, find me on Instagram or at my website.  If you’d like to help support this podcast financially, there’s now a way to do just that, and thank you – visit me on my page at buymeacoffee.com! Thanks as always for sharing, subscribing, rating, and reviewing, as this helps our community to grow!

Thanks as always to my friend, Peter Vaughan-Vail, for providing the beautiful harp music you hear in this and every episode.

Here are some resources I hope will help you to engage with this week’s topic in a deeper way for yourself:

1. Alma Mater: Hail, Providence from Providence College

2. Meditation questions: where might we find God’s providential hand in our own history?

What was a time in your life where you thought, “I don’t know how I’ll get through this,” but then something shifted to help you to move you forward, maybe in a small way, whether in your thinking or physical circumstance? Could God have been at work for you at that time in some way?

Who is a person who changed or expanded your thinking on a topic that made you more open, more kind or loving, or who enabled or directed an action you took that changed how you lived your life from that point on? How did you meet this person? Do you remember? What were the circumstances around how you connected, and might God have been present in that for you?

As you look at your vocation or work or even your interests, what were the circumstances that led you there? What influenced your decisions or your direction then, and what or who is guiding you now toward your next steps? Is it possible that God is working in one of these vocational situations, even on a very winding road, which is kind of God’s favorite, but is it possible that God is working in that right now for your good?

What’s a book, movie, podcast, or song that inspires you? How did you come to find it? Does it show up at various points in your life when you really need it? How did or does this piece of art change, comfort or guide you? Do you have a story about that? Do you believe that God works in this kind of stuff?

Think about the hardest thing you’ve survived. Where can you see God working, even in that, for your good? 

Finally, where are you today, friend? Physically, emotionally, spiritually: where and how do you find yourself today? Is there something in today’s circumstances that you suspect God might have had a hand in? Some small detail of God showing off and showing you a particular kindness? Let’s stop a moment and just say thanks in our spirits for how He works for the good in this day that He made for us.

3. Book: Take Heart: 100 Devotions to Seeing God When Life’s Not Okay (I contributed devotion #100)

4. Lyric Video: The Voyage, by Amanda Lindsey Cook