I’m reaching a new realm of closeness with God, and, of course, I want the entire world here with me feeling His sweet, intimate and invisible Presence! Like the other morning, of all places, I’m in the restroom saying that I must finish listening to a podcast of Oprah Winfrey interviewing Paulo Coelho before leaving. I did! But afterward, I said, let me stay there and have an appointment with God to start my day on the right track with Him. I first went to our family’s website, but nothing there gave me the high five I was looking to get from Him. Then, I went to my book (a huge book of 366 blog posts), and simply continuing from where I had last left off having an appointment with God with my sons, look what IMMEDIATELY and INCREDIBLY jumped out at me:
“…watching Oprah Winfrey interview Paulo Coelho.” Wink! Wink!
For these words to show up there, after I had just forced myself to relisten to this very interview, was things once again lining up a little bit too perfect to be some ordinary coincidence. This was God revealing His Presence with me there, EVEN IN THE RESTROOM!!! Yup! I’m in agreement with David, who wrote this thousand of years ago:
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” – Psalm 139:7-10
Honestly, though, I can boast even of my weaknesses because of the way God shows up for me. He is ALWAYS with us, and He incredibly knows everything about us in every moment of our lives, including every thought we think. This morning He sweetly found a way to correct me over the crazy lady thoughts that get the best of me far too often. This God wink began on Friday when I sent my husband a picture of an old post of what my brother, Kevin, had to say about him:
“Manny (my husband) is a good person. Everybody has their little faults. But, all in all, he takes care of his family, he respects his wife, and I don’t think you can ask for more than that.”
On Saturday, I say to my husband, “If I ask anything more from you, I’ll be greedy.” Fast forward to Sunday morning with the crazy lady wanting to show up again (the devil!), I said, let me search for an old email that I’ve sent out before using the search keyword “bananas.” The very second email I opened from December of last year incredibly said:
“Manny is a good person. Everybody has their little faults. But, all in all, he takes care of his family, he respects his wife, and I don’t think you can ask for more than that.”
The very words that I took a picture of to send my husband on Friday, less than 48 hours prior! Again, God showing up and saying, ‘Nik, please stop these crazy thoughts about your husband. He really is a great guy!!!’ God corrects those He loves! Then this crucial and very needed reminder showed up in my alone session with God under our tree today:
“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures. Love never ends.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Life is not easy! But the great news is that we have God’s Presence sweetly with us, and we have access to His wisdom, guidance, strength, joy, peace, love, direction, and approval backing us up. On the way home from church, I told my daughters how I felt God telling me to leave the church some years ago, in a quest for a closer walk with Him by myself (mission accomplished!), and now I feel Him saying I should start attending again. I’m so excited to see my daughters excited about attending church, y’all! Praise God! My husband called us on that ride home, and I told him how I went for the altar call. He asked what for, and I responded, “Hon, I went to say thank You to God for all He is doing for us.”
