Question, who do you think will have a better day, the 2 boys who recognize God’s fingerprints in their life or the scholar trying to prove God didn’t perform miracles?

When I was in the first & second garde we lived in the country. It was about a ¼ mile walk down a dirt/gravel road. I remember walking into the house after school one afternoon as mom pulled the hot chocolate chip cookies from the oven. She could have baked the cookies anytime, but it was her special way to say, “You have been on my heart.” She knew I loved hot cookies and a cold glass of milk.

So many times, I am guilty of thinking of God as the God of Big Things…the Red Sea events and my miraculous healing from renal carcinoma and not recognizing Him as the God of the little, small, and overlooked details of life. It’s sudden things people call coincidences…the things that have no explanation. It’s the out-of-the-blue-encouragement. It’s those WOW moments when you will hear me loudly say, “God is COOL!”

God gave me a huge batch of cookie memories when I broke my leg. Yep, you got it. That’s the way God works sometimes…in the pain of it all. The first batch of cookies was the day after my surgery. I awoke as the young lady was cleaning my room. After watching her carefully clean I said, “Thank you for doing a great job. You know that without you this hospital would close.” BAM. The lady almost folded up as she said, “No one ever thanks me.” That was when I remembered Pastor Randy’s prayer the day before in the ER. He prayed that people would see Jesus through my broken leg. But it was the 2 weeks in rehab where God really fired up the oven. My favorite was the physical therapist God assigned to teach me to walk. Moments after she introduced herself in my room she said, “and I’m an atheist.” “God you are cool!” Now think about this. She is bound to me…holding me up so I don’t fall and all the while I get to talk to her about Jesus. She can’t go anywhere. And here is the absolute cool thing. The pain was in the distance. I was having fun.

The broken leg experience changed my life. Yeah, I don’t walk as well as I once did, but I would not change it because I would miss the life approach that came from this time. It’s what I call “God’s Great Adventure.” It starts with an attitude of “Wonder what God is going to do today?” It begins with quite time with Him and His Word.

Life is going to happen. There will be good times & bad times… happy times and sad times but His presence is the difference maker. Nehemiah said it best, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

I have found the truths Jesus promises all who follow Him, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20. And when the scary & impossible times come, and they will (John 16:33), we find in Joshua 23:8, “But you are to cling to the Lord your God…” Then, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”  Philippians 4:7

Let the words from the King of Kings linger in your heart, “surely I am with you always.”

Now slow down and smell the cookies… He’s right there with you…