God moments

Finding a front row parking spot when you are in a hurry, making that green light on the way when you are running late, finding $20 in your coat pocket from last winter.......Don't you love when these things happen to you? Sometimes I think, and I hear others say, "God must be looking out for me today!" Well, as great as these moments are, they aren't necessarily "God moments.

Jason and I went out to dinner with some friends of ours who are missionaries in Central and South America. Talk about some God moments! They shared with us that they see God moving in amazing ways every day out in the mission field. I asked them why they thought that they noticed God's intervention more there than here in the States. There reply was that a. life moves at a much slower pace in the villages of Belize. They are not running on the crazy schedules that we all have, plus they don't have all the "stuff" we have complicating their lives.
b. also, they said that when you have to rely on God and your faith for your safety and needs,
and rely on Him to show you what He wants you to do for Him, you will see His work so clearly.

How awesome is that!!! It really was inspiring listening to their stories. I have to share with you their "top" God moment. They had traveled from Guatamala to the jungle of Belize to a tiny village with a pastor that had 8 churches he led. They had 2 men, and 9 women and children crammed into a Kia Sportage (very tiny car meant for 4). They traveled to one of the churches (basically a hut with a thatched roof and a generator for power). After the church service, they started their drive back to the pastor's village about 15 miles away, through the jungle in the pouring rain in the pitch black of night. (Usually they did not travel at night). And she said rain in the jungle is like no rain we have seen here! Well, a few miles into the trip, the battery gave out, and the men had to start walking through the jungle to try to find someone with a battery.... What are the chances of that happening? Pretty slim, but there was no other choice. The women and children stayed in the car. Two miracles occurred that night: 1. The men spotted a light through the jungle and they found a man who had a battery that had been taken to town that day to be fully charged! 2. On their way back to the car, lugging the battery on his shoulder, our friend saw headlights coming toward them. It was a truckful of drunk men coming right toward the car of women and children. They had seen them earlier in their trip down the road. Our friends shared with us that drunk men in this country are very mean and do harmful things to women. He starts running toward the car as fast as he can. Amazingly enough, the men just drive by, like the car is invisible to them. Now they do throw bottles at our friend and the pastor, but not a glance at the carful of women on the side of the road. Now that is a God moment for sure! Obviously, God wanted our friends to continue in their work and make it back to the village with the pastor and women and children. He had plans for them that did not include the truckful of men. Praise God for his divine intervention.

Those of us who are not missionaries may have a harder time finding God moments on a daily basis, but they are there. Take a few moments to reflect and journal on how you saw God in your life today. They can be big things, like healing or an answered prayer, or small things, like a hug of a child, or an encouraging note from a friend. No matter what, God is alive and active in our daily lives. Praise Him for it!!

"His incomparably great power for us who believe... is like the working of his mighty strength." Ephesians 1:19