“Name a time when you saw God show up for you.” The questions are not always worded this way, but the meaning is still the same. In almost every Bible study I’ve done, I’ve seen a similar question in one or more of the lessons. And I’ve got to be honest, I hate those questions. When I read them, I’m suddenly blank, “I’ve got nothing,” I think to myself, which is definitely NOT TRUE!
I am reading an amazing devotional book by Katherine Wolf titled Treasures in the Dark. If you don’t know Katherine, she is a Christian author and speaker. At the age of 26, shortly after the birth of her first child, she narrowly survived a serious stroke, which left her with multiple disabilities.
Today I read the entry titled Stones of Help. In it, Katherine writes about the story from 1 Samuel where God helped the Israelites defeat the Philistines. After their victory, they wanted something to remind themselves and future generations of what God had done. That’s when they set up a huge stone called the Ebenezer stone, which translates to “stone of help.” Katherine went on to say that she and her husband, Jay, decided to surround themselves with visible reminders of God’s goodness, their own personal Ebenezers.
I’m not writing this to convince you that you should set up some of your own “Ebenezers,” although that’s not a bad idea. I want to share with you what Katherine wrote next, which is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. She says, “We can be so forgetful when it comes to what God has done. In fact, we can convince ourselves that He’s never come through, which means He won’t come through the next time we need help.” (It’s like she’s been reading my Bible study lessons and noticing I skipped those “faithfulness” questions.) Katherine goes on to say, “Look around, friend. There is evidence of God showing up everywhere you look.”
So, I’m starting to realize that every “God showing up for me” moment doesn’t have to fall into the “miracle” category. All I need to recall is His presence, His blessing, and His faithfulness. So, today I am choosing to mark our recent trip to Maine as one of my “God’s faithfulness” memories.
If you know me, you know that John and I love to travel. However, Parkinson’s has made it much more challenging for John to the point that on this trip we needed to bring along a walker. He doesn’t need it all the time, but let me tell you, he can go further faster when he’s using a walker, and if you know John’s regular speed, you know that is a bona fide miracle in and of itself!
It wasn’t until we arrived at the airport that I realized that getting inside with three suitcases (two small, one large), AND a walker was going to be challenging. However, our Uber driver was on top of things and figured out the solution even before I mentioned the problem. He said, “I’m just going to take you to the curbside check-in stand.” (Why have I never done that before?) We had everything checked, including the walker, and were on our way to security in less than five minutes. John can walk unassisted well enough to go the short distance to security, and after that, a kind man driving one of those little carts got us to the gate. Once we arrived in Maine, we figured out that we could put one of the small suitcases on the walker seat so John could both use the walker and carry the suitcase at the same time. I won’t bore you with the rest of the details of our trip, but suffice it to say, God showed up multiple times to allow us the most fun two old people can possibly have on a trip.
If I start to look, I know I’ll see more and more instances of God’s faithfulness. And when I do, I’m going to start writing them down, so the next time my Bible study book says, “write down a time God showed up for you,” I’ll have a huge list of answers.
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