Do you see the pickles? If you are a married man, this is a default question that seems to just roll out of our mouths. As soon as the words leave my lips, my wife of 50 awesome years, will walk over… and like a surgeon snatch the pickles right from where I was looking. Then say, “It’s right here!” I will proclaim, “Where did that come from?” I was looking right there!” 

This perplexing dilemma has baffled me for some time. How can Mary find stuff? Is she a magician? She can find my missing shirt in the closet; a book that’s right in front of me. How?

First, men & women think differently. God designed us that way (Genesis 1-3). Thank God. But there is another factor… how we look. How do we prepare for the search? I asked Mary this question. “What do you think about when I say, “Where is…?” She quickly responded, “It’s there!” The certainty of it being there. “It’s there!”

What are you seeing today? What you are seeing is a product of what you are searching for or looking for. If you want to find Joy, there is only one place. It’s with the creator of Joy, Our Heavenly Father. When you think about God’s Glory, His Joy, His Miracles, we can miss it! But why?

The answer is found in Joshua 3:5, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Consecrate, to set apart, to come clean, prepare to be in His Holy Presence. How often do we do a “Drive By” with God in our over busy life? You know, “God I need…!” and then wonder why I don’t sense Him or His response. We go to church as if it’s a club meeting. We begin & race through our day with our hair on fire.

In Joshua 3 God is going to do the Impossible. It’s a “Watch This!” experience. The Jordan River is at flood stage. Some believe it could have been a ½ to 1 mile across. It was roaring. To try to cross would have been sure death. And yet God brought His people to the River at this precise time to teach them the Life Lessons of: “I AM with you.” (Joshua 3:7), “Nothing Is Impossible For God!” (Luke 1:37) and trust in God alone, “in God I trust” (Psalms 56:4)

First the people had to be prepared to experience the miraculous. They had to get their hearts & minds on one thing, God! Nothing else mattered. Consecrating, setting aside our time…our thoughts…our desires with GOD!

I also noticed in Joshua 3, it started out with, “Early in the morning…”. Throughout the Bible there are morning God moments. I have come to discover this works well for me. Early in the morning I am not distracted by the stuff of the world. I come hungry & searching for Him. It’s easier to separate (consecrate) my heart & mind to Him. It’s then that He whispers to my heart. It’s then that the Joy of His Presence overflows. It’s then! Just Him & me.

So, what are you looking for? If you want to find the Joy that only He can provide, I challenge you to follow scripture with Consecrating your heart & mind. Give Him the first of your time…your heart…your life. And then pray, “Show me Your Ways, teach me Your Paths, guide me in Your Truths and Teach me, for You are my God and my Savior.”