God Smiles

Always be joyful.Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)

It's the little things. The gentle reminders God is there. He is holding you tighter than ever.

You have to wake up early to make it to a job interview and get caught in traffic. You're afraid you'll be late and you realize you left the house without your good luck charm. But God sends you the most beautiful sunrise you've ever seen and immediately you perk up and have a newfound confidence. He is smiling on you. 

You are missing worship because you have to stay late at work on Wednesday night. You're frustrated as you grade papers or read documents. You turn on the radio and hear your worship favorite song. The one you've had stuck in your head all day even though you haven't heard it in weeks. He is smiling in you. 

Your mother is sick and the doctors are unsure how much longer she will make it. You can't sleep or eat. Being at the hospital makes you sick. A nurse offers to pray with you one day. To help put your heart at ease. She offers you a cup of coffee and a donut. He is smiling on you. 

Life likes to throw us curveballs. The Devil loves to attack God's righteous people. Sometimes he is even given permission to torture us so we can fall back on our hope and strength in Christ. But it's in these moments we must be thankful. We must not allow the Devil to steal our joy. We must be on the lookout for what my mom taught me to call "God smiles." 

These moments are completely unexplainable. You can't figure out how the neighbor next door knew that your favorite candy bar is a Milky Way. You can't explain why the praise team chose to sing the song you've been weeping to the past week. There is no explanation as to why your favorite dinner is served at the banquet you would rather not be at. These are the moments you should be beyond grateful. Because He is smiling on you. He is gently picking you up, dusting you off, and reminding you whose you are. 

Look for the God smiles in your life today. Be thankful for the opportunities that might not bring you happiness. As I sit in the courthouse for jury duty today, I'm reminded that I am blessed to have an opportunity to give back to the country which allows me freedom to vote. I'm blessed with the money to get a new drivers license. Though this is not how I hoped to spend my last week before school starts back, I'm so glad that He is constantly smiling on me.

Power in Prayer

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Romans 12:12

Okay, let's face it. Praying is hard. It's not always easy to just turn off everything around you and focus on the voice inside your mind talking to the Big Man. It becomes an even more daunting task when we are asked to pray in front of others. We are consistently worried about how others might judge the way we talk to God.

Here's the thing, God doesn't care. He doesn't care about how many times you say His name. He doesn't care about how loudly you are speaking. He doesn't care about whether your hands are folded waffle style, pancake style or even folded at all. None of that matters to Him. What matters to God is the fact that you are talking to Him.

The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to "pray continually," or as some have stated, "pray without ceasing." This means there should be an open line of communication with God all day, every day. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. 52 weeks a year. He isn't concerned about how you come to Him, but the fact that you consistently do. 

Let me tell you a little secret about myself. Are you ready? I'm not good at remembering this either. Did you hear that? No? Okay. Here we go. I am not a good prayer-er. There. I said it. Prayer is HARD! But you know what? God knows that. He knows the struggles we face daily and the problems we have with confidence In Him. He knows everything in our hearts. But He still loves us and wants to hear from us. 

Here's a little help. Don't focus on perfection or dejection, focus on projection. What do I mean by that? Well every time something comes to mind, pray about it. Not just sometimes. Not just when it's convenient. Every. Single. Time. 

Say for instance you are scrolling through your Facebook page and notice someone is sick or hurting or even blatantly asks for prayer, stop what you are doing right then and pray for that person. You might be the only one who notices that little status amongst the presidential candidates and Dog Day posts. What if you're at a restaurant and the waitress mentions her newborn at home keeps her up all night and that's why she took a little longer bringing you your pancake? Ask if you can pray for her. Do it right there. In the restaurant. You have no idea the impact you might have for Christ by doing that. 

Let me tell you a story or two about some recent activities that have taken place since I started praying more often. 

First story. I worked at a camp this summer and we had a worship service every night for the campers. One night I was in the prayer room during the service and the man speaking had an alter call at the beginning of service instead of the end like normal. I felt an urgent need to start praying for "just one more." I wasn't even in the service but I could hear the uproar as people flooded the stage. I just prayed over and over for "just one more, God." As I stepped outside still praying, the speaker called one last time and almost immediately someone in the back stood up. It was amazing. After that all I could say was "Thank you! You are amazing God! You are so awesome!" Prayer is powerful. 

This next story is a little more self involved but it goes to show how truly mighty our God is. How He can do whatever He wants for us. Last week was rough. I was sick and stresses from school have started to attack me and it felt like everything was against me. To top it all off my computer broke and that made life very difficult. Instead of consistently complaining like I usually would, I decided to pray. I posted a request on Facebook for friends to lift me up in prayer and went about my day in continual prayer. I was just asking God for a miracle. "Please give me a miracle God. I just need my computer to magically get fixed." Enter in a text from my dad. It was almost immediate that he asked what was up. After a quick explanation, he told me to mail him my computer and he would get it fixed. "Thank you, God! You truly are a God of miracles! You are so glorious! Thank you thank you thank you!" Prayer is powerful. 

These are just small examples. I could tell you about the fire that recently went around a church camp that had been threatened for a week. It literally went around both sides of the camp with no explanation. I know the reason. Prayer is powerful. I could tell you the many stories of people who have been healed or brough to Christ all because someone was on his or her knees. All because someone dialed in to the Big Man. Prayer is powerful.

It's so crazy how He answers our prayers. But don't take this message to mean that if you pray for things on your terms God will answer them. He doesn't work that way. He works on His watch. In prayer we should be thankful first. I keep a prayer journal and the first thing I do is thank Him for His wonderful creation. He deserves so much more than any word we could possibly say. But He loves hearing from us. Even when we don't have the words to say, His name is enough.  

Take just a minute now to say a prayer. Pray for whatever God is laying on your heart right now. Don't worry. He's listening. 

Waiting On Furniture

Air mattresses do not make good living room furniture.

For the past week my family has been using just that. It has been about as fun as one would assume. My grandparents recently bought new furniture but before it came we got rid of the old stuff. Hence the air mattresses. Our new furniture was not set to come in until sometime this morning. So when we got a call last night that they could deliver early, well you can only imagine how happy we all were. However, no one was as happy as my grandmother. She was ecstatic. Beyond that even. She was jubilant.

Imagine for a second a child on Christmas Eve waiting on Santa Claus. You know the kid. The one with his little sticky fingers on the door handle and his nose pressed against door. He takes on a face like a little piggy and can't stop squirming with excitement. That was my grandmother last night. She waited at the door for ten minutes and watched.

 

This morning after reading the verse of the day from K-LOVE, I began to think "Now why don't we act like that with God?" The verse says:

 

"Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home!" Proverbs 8:34

 

Can you picture that? I can just imagine myself sitting at those pearly gates. I can see myself sitting before His throne. Joyful. Ecstatic. Jubilant. What if we got that excited about His word? What if, instead of being excited for the next big thing, what if we were excited for His second coming? What if we were joyful each time we got an opportunity to see someone get close to God? What if we became ecstatic when we were waiting in lines instead of feeling slowed down?

 

God places us in positions to test and try us. He allows the Devil to bring us down so He can bring us back up. Life gets so hard sometimes. Being in college and feeling the consistent pressures from this world, I know just how hard it can get. I know that there are times when I want to give in to temptation and allow the things of this world to satisfy me. Heck, there have been plenty of times in the past three years that I have done just that. There are so many things in my past I'm not proud of. 

 

But those are the things God has used to show me just how much He truly loves me. Those are the times when He just wants me to wait and listen to His word. The times when it feels like no one could understand the pain and strife I'm dealing with. The times when I don't think I can leave my bed. The times when I want to cry for hours on the front porch and blame God for allowing me to face such difficult struggles. Those are the moments He longs for us to just watch and wait. Slow down.

 

In those moments, allow yourself to be excited. Allow yourself to look at your life through fresh eyes. Allow yourself to sit outside His home and be joyful. Give Him glory instead of blame. He deserves nothing but your all. So today while you are reading His word or taking a moment to enjoy some worship music, picture yourself at the door waiting for your Father to come home. Because one day He will return and I only hope I can daily exude the joy that my grandmother did last night. When the furniture FINALLY came.