I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday. She had taken her child to visit a college over the weekend. In order to catch their train home, they needed to find a taxi to get to the train station. As they were crossing a busy street, her son, looking more for a cab than to the traffic situation, was nearly hit by a van. Needless to say, with the stressing over the possibility they might miss their train, and feeling frightened thinking about what could have happened to him, she was extremely tense. In addition, shortly after getting in the cab, a car darted in front of the taxi and she found herself applying the ‘air brakes’ on the passenger side of the car. The driver, an old man, with an accent that might suggest he was Jamaican, turned the radio on, to a beautiful Christian hymn, and then said to her, “Don’t worry…God is in control.”
The significance of that moment did not sink in until the next day, when she was telling the story. Tears filled her eyes as she saw the way God gently cared for and reassured her through the words and actions of an old taxi driver.
God will reveal himself to us in some amazing ways. We never know who or what He will use to speak to us.
Look for Him today…in the circumstances of the day, in the most unlikely people and places, in the faces of those you come into contact with, and notice how He shows up. He wants to reveal Himself to us all the time…we just need to learn how to recongnize Him.
Peace,
Deb
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
noticing
Posted by deb at 5:30 AM
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6 comments:
Deb,
Thanks for the reminder on this. I often miss the normal average everyday ways God uses others to speak to me. I think I'm always looking for the rainbows, fireworks, or burning bushes :)
It's not until I stop to take a breath at the end of a busy day or before the next busy day starts that I realize how He has spoken to me. Then, I think it's even more amazing that he uses just normal, average everday people to speak His thoughts to me because then I can wrap my mind around the fact that He could be using normal, average, everyday me to speak to others. Now that's the really cool thing! Thanks again for the awesome post!
Love ya'!
Carol
hi deb (and other readers),
i finally made some time to check out the website and i'm so glad i did. it's really wonderful what you are doing, deb. thank you for taking time to remind us to pay attention to what God is saying and to encourage us in our journey with Him.
going through this tremendous life change into parenthood has been amazing, but also overwhelming at times. i feel like my relationship with God is reduced to "Please help me!" and "thanks for helping me with that." i know God has been working on things with me and growing me, but i feel disconnected. reading over the blogs was a good reminder of how much i need to allow for times of silence and solitude with Him. thanks.
michele
Deb:
My eyes welled up in tears all over again when I read this. As I reflected on the events of that day, I realized how much I needed to be reminded at that very moment (in the midst of the stress and chaos)that God is in control. How amazing it was to hear the voice of God in a Jamaican accent coming from a kind, older gentleman driving a cab in Philly. Each time I have a mental flashback of my son just inches away from stepping in front of a van traveling at about 35-40 MPH, my sense of fear is immediately replaced by a stronger sense of peace because of those words (God's words) spoken to me by the cab driver ... "God is in Control!" Sometimes it takes extreme circumstances to slow us down to hear His still, small voice!
Love and blessings,
Kathy
I "noticed" God during worship at church this week. I rarely notice Him speaking to me during that time. However, this was one of those times God spoke gently and softly and His kindness brought me to my knees. I had been fretting and worrying about something that had occured the evening before. I had completely taken the situation and run with it in my mind in a way that was dangerous. During worship we were singing a song that I can't even recall now. It was a new song, focusing on His grace. I suddenly felt this overwhelming sense of love, forgiveness, acceptance. These feelings and thoughts replaced the thoughts I had been having that made me feel worried and defeated. I was immediately aware of my pride that brought on the anxiousness and fear. I was humbled, and filled immediately with an overwhelming sense of God's grace. There was a knowledge that God will control those areas I cannot.
The knowledge and awareness of God's grace and overwhelming love for me was so fresh and new and real at that moment. It was as real and tender as the first time I ever discovered God's grace.
I was glad I had "noticed."
Jane
Ladies,
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your 'noticings'. Just living life can block our awareness of God. Busyness, babies, concerns,stress...all of it can steal our ability to pay attention and listen to God speak to us in ways we would least expect. Keep sharing what you are seeing...it is such an encouragement!
Deb
God has such a sense of humor! Sometimes I notice Him in a beautiful flower or the song of a bird. Last night was a little different. I was awakened at 4:30 am. by my two oriental short hair cats running around my bed in circles! As I looked to see why they were behaving this way, I saw a bat flying around my room in circles! I am an animal lover, but I'm not fond of bats. To be honest, they scare me! I laid in bed a few minutes figuring out how to get out of my room and away from the bat. Finally I made a dart for my bedroom door with a pillow for protection! Thank goodness my son came to my rescue! We got a blanket and he bravely went into the room to capture the critter. As he took the blanket outside to release the bat he said, "I hope I didn't hurt him." I was so moved by his compassion for one of God's creations! As I lay in bed afterward I thought about the poor little critter and how he had been lost in a strange place. Then I thought, I'm a lot like that bat! There have been times in my life that I have been in strange places and God sends Christians friends to guide me gently back to Christ!
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