Even in the Little Things

In the midst of a season of waiting in the fog, unclear of where God would lead next, there were a couple instances where God prompted me to reach out to someone. Just send a text, give them a call. They were gentle, yet persistent nudges that didn’t seem like a big deal. He wasn’t asking much of me—it would have been easy to miss them, ignore them, to simply say no. But even in these simple steps of obedience, God would show up in some pretty amazing ways.

The God of Angel Armies

My brother has had a long and hard struggle with addictions of almost every kind. Watching God work in his life has been one of the most powerful impacts in my faith walk. The Bible talks of being 'made new.' I watched it happen to my brother. By the grace of God, he was walking victorious over the power of alcohol and drugs and gambling.

In his newfound freedom, he chose to testify in the sentencing hearing for the drug dealer he distributed for. On the morning he was to testify, I knew it would be a scary deal and that he may be feeling a bit anxious. So, before I started my volunteer work at my church, I sent him a simple text of encouragement, “Speak the truth in love.” His response affirmed that he was indeed feeling anxious and frightened. I responded with the next thing that came to me, “The God of angel armies is always by your side.”

I was helping one of the pastors that morning, and I shared with him that I would need to leave around 10 a.m. to be with my mom while my brother testified in court. I thought that I was at peace with it all, but I did find myself checking the clock frequently, a little anxious about the whole thing and how the morning would go. As I was writing events on a giant wall calendar, my back was to the pastor as he worked quietly at his desk. Suddenly, I heard him singing—quietly, but clearly, “The God of angel armies is always by your side”! Nothing before, nothing after, just the one line of the chorus. The one I had sent to my brother just a short time before!

Now, I had never heard this pastor sing at work before, or since. And there are a lot of songs, even if you narrow it down to praise and worship songs, and many lines within that one song. So, what were the odds that he would sing that line, out loud, right after I had sent a silent text just moments before with that very same line? It is things like this, coincidences (not!), that have helped me see that there is a God above. And he just keeps getting bigger.

The very next day, a dear friend came to see me with her newborn—a precious baby boy that I would be blessed to become the godmother of! As I held him, sleeping in my arms, he suddenly squirmed and twisted up his little red face—whimpering and on the verge of crying—as though he was having a bad dream. Instinctively, I reached to gently stroke his cheek, softly caressing his baby-soft skin. Reassuring him that he was not alone, that I was right there with him. As quickly as his distress had arisen, his peaceful slumber resumed.

It was in that moment, that I realized that that was precisely what God had done for me the day before. As I began to fret and stew over my brother’s predicament, the God of heaven reached down to gently stroke my cheek. Reassuring me that I was not alone, that he was right there with me. In that moment, I knew that God cared deeply for me. He saw me, he knew me, he loved me. That’s pretty personal.

WOW!!

Another time, as I was doing my morning devotionals and spending time with the Lord, a woman’s name kept coming to mind. She had been a volunteer at HorsePower. We had certainly gotten to know each other a bit and enjoyed each other, but I would not say we had become friends. We hadn’t spent time together outside of her volunteer service at HorsePower. And I wasn’t even with HorsePower anymore. Why did she keep coming to mind? I felt like I should call her, but that was weird, right? What would I even say? And what would she think of a call from me at 7:30 in the morning . . . out of the blue?

I can remember arguing with God a bit. Why in the world would I call her—and at this hour? He was persistent. Well, that’s just awkward. I do have her number in my phone, but I don’t even know if it’s right for me to call her for any reason other than HorsePower related calls . . .  The nagging feeling remained. I finally agreed to compromise. Well, okay, God. But I am going to text.

So, at 7:30 a.m. on a random weekday morning, I shot a text off to this volunteer—from my old job. I texted something like, “Good morning! I just wanted you to know that you have been on my heart this morning as I am spending some time in prayer. Hope things are going well with you!” There. I had done it.

It wasn’t but a few seconds when my phone’s text alert went off. I opened the text to find her response:

WOW!!! You wouldn’t believe where I am. I am in the emergency room with my son. He is going to need to have an emergency appendectomy! And my ex just showed up and things are getting really tense. I was losing it. I didn’t know how I was going to handle all this stress and then you sent that text.

Again, wow! I wouldn’t have believed it. No wonder God had wanted me to reach out to this woman! I am so glad that I put aside my “weird” filter and just went ahead and did it. Both of us got to see how amazing God is! He saw her in her struggle and asked one of his daughters to reach out and give her some encouragement. Warms my heart in a really reverent kind of way. This was one of many ways in which God was teaching me to just say yes—even if it does seem weird. Or inconvenient. Or hard. Or impossible! When we obey, we get to see God. I wish I would have called her, rather than chickening out and texting. I wonder what our conversation would have looked like! But God still used it, my half-hearted yes. He was building my faith and my desire to respond to him—even in the little things. Now, I wanted to wade in deeper. Until I was all in! Little did I know what lay ahead.

“Then Micaiah continued, “Listen to what the Lord says!

I saw the Lord sitting on his throne with all the armies of

heaven around him, on his right and on his left.”

1 Kings 22:19 NIV

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

human beings that you care for them?”

Psalm 8:3-4­­ NIV

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who

loves me. The one who­­ loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I too will love them and show myself to them.””

John 14:21 NIV

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate

to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.

The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees

him nor knows him. But you know him,

for he lives with you and will be in you.”

John 14:16-17 NIV

“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will,

but prophets, though human, spoke from God

as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:21 NIV