Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. Isaiah 40:26
Do you ever feel like you get so caught up in the mundane, the daily demands, the things that scream for attention in your life that you forget to notice the beauty among the normal moments of your life, you neglect to see the continuous whispers of his voice that say, "I am with you. I love you. I will help you. I want to show you my kindness today."
Many years ago I had a dream and in it, I was overwhelmed by all the demanding issues of my life and I was distracted by fear of what might happen. In the dream, as I was stewing, fretting and calling out to God in prayer, He beckoned me to come to him and to climb into his hand that was big enough to carry me. I climbed into the palm and he tenderly wrapped his fingers around me. He took me far up into space where I saw the blinking light of starts and galaxies all around me. Finally, after traveling through myriad galaxies of sparkling beauties, in a mere twinkling of an eye, God addressed me.
"Sally, I want you to look down at your home where all the troubles are bubbling around that concerned you. How big does it look from here?"
As I looked down, I could see a speck that I knew was my home with all of us and our worries inside.
"Lord, it is so relatively small compared to this infinite display of the galaxies and planets, that it seems tiny."
"That is how big your problems are in light of my infinite power, my endless mercy and compassion, my desire and power to help you every day. I want you to remember how small it looks from eternity and let me give you peace."
And as quickly as my dream began, it was over. But when I awakened, my heart was at rest.
Recently, this summer, I found myself again, in the circle of swirling issues. A hot summer day melted everything in sight over hours as I sat inside my un-air-conditioned house, sweat sliding down my forehead. I was drumming away on my book as I pounded my keyboard; cleaning up after the dog; and dancing in and out of the lives of Joel and Joy who were also intent on finishing projects that loomed large with deadlines. One more of thousands of meals to be made filled my mind as a task that needed someone to do. Even that felt like a load on this hot day.
The pressures of life had lain heavy on our hearts with financial issues along our paths, health concerns that seemed overwhelming for a loved one, a former missionary colleague has just died suddenly, the news of a friend who had turned away from the Lord brought sadness, another one whose marriage was in trouble called and the barrage of CNN announcements of another terrorist attack overseas filtered through our afternoon.
It seemed that life was heavy on our shoulders and some dark fog hovered around our hearts. Unconsciously, we had stuffed our emotions, carried our individual darknesses alone as we tromped through the thousands of mundane details of life that held us captive on this day.
Dinnertime came before we were ready to do anything about it. "Let's go down the street and just sip something cold at the new place that has an outside patio," Joel voiced.
It didn't take long to agree and down the road we went. After ordering snacks and drinks at the counter, we searched for an outside table where some mountain breezes might blow through our rumpled hearts.
Within minutes after we were seated and sipping, it was as though the Holy Spirit decided to grab our attention by unfolding a light show just in front of our humble picnic table. Our little i-phones attempted to record the splendor but imperfectly, but our souls drank it in.
While we sipped, ate, breathed out the day and inhaled the beauty, our conversation softened, our friendship merged into the atmosphere and our circle became a place of goodness and restoring as we remembered our sweet blessings of just being able to share a few moments of utter bliss and celebration amidst such a splendid night sky.
I remembered, once again, that every day, he leaves signs for me to remind me that He has my back, that He is in control, that He sees every moment. There are endless ways of His love through the sweet ones He chose to place in my life, the constancy of His Fatherhood in allowing beauty and goodness in every day by the ways He leaves His artwork in my wake, the assurance that I am never alone.
And then I remembered my dream from almost 20 years before. I remembered how small my issues in the hands of an almighty God carrying me every day. All the fears, worries, stresses, problems of life loomed small in the presence of my infinite loving God who holds it all together in His hands.
What about you? Are you looking for His signs?
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Last week, I took time with the sweet women attending a leadership retreat in my home and asked them to share with you from the inspiration and encouragement of our weekend. We taped the podcast live in my home. Hope you will be encouraged.