Wednesday, August 3, 2011

#10 of My Favorite Things - God's Orchestration of Life!

Romans 8:28 (NIV)
 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I love it when you can see the hand of God at work. I also love the way you can look back in life and see how God orchestrated things to work out in an incredible way. I love hearing stories of those that know God and see how everything lined up to give God all the Glory.

Many of us could share stories of how God has worked in your life. I have many stories I could share and once again could write a book if I could remember them all. God can work in the tiniest thing like when my husband and I knew we needed a set of bunk beds for our kids and we prayed. One of my husband’s co-workers that very week said they were going to have a yard sale and were putting a bunk bed set out to sell but wanted to know if we might need bunk beds. We bought them for $50. God is so good!

I had another incident where I was to go to a friend’s house but I had forgotten the directions to her house. I had read them but wasn’t quite sure which way to turn. There happened to be a billboard of Touched by an Angel and everyone in the billboard was looking to their right, my left, so I turned left. It was the way to get to my friend’s house.

Last year when my Aunt passed away I was leaving right after her funeral for San Francisco. I asked God to give me a sign to let me know my Aunt was okay. I was having a difficult time getting my directions right in San Francisco and they have a lot of one way streets. I had to make right turn after right turn to get to where I needed to go and at one of those turns I saw the street named “Jessie St.” That happened to be my Aunt’s name and I smiled and said, “Thank you God for letting me know she’s okay.” Recently when we were in Palm Springs I was driving down the 111 towards Rancho Mirage and I drove past “Perez St.” That was my Aunt’s last name. Once again I thanked God for the little reminder of my Aunt.

I can look back and see God’s hand in my life even when I didn’t even know who he was. I know God gave me the Father I was meant to have. He wasn’t my biological Father but when I finally saw a picture of my “real” Father I had to do a double take with the photo. He looked exactly like my Dad that raised me. It was God letting me know that I never missed a thing not knowing my biological Father, that God had given me the Father he meant for me to have.

Is it a coincidence that my birthday and my husband’s birthday are the exact opposite? Mine is 7/12 and his is 12/7. Makes me believe we were meant to be together. 7 and 12 happen to be favorite numbers for us. 7 children later…who knows maybe we’ll have a dozen grandkids! At the least! God only knows how many we will have.

God always seems to give me themes to things. When we went to Georgia in 1995 on our travels back home everything lead us to The Wizard of Oz. We saw the Yellow Brick Road in the east side of Kansas. We then saw a replica of Dorothy’s house in a museum with a tour you could take of The Wizard of Oz all made out of recyclable materials. We stopped in Las Vegas and stayed at the MGM where they had the Wizard’s Magic show and then Frank L. Baum’s grandson was there signing his book he wrote as an addition to The Wizard of Oz. I had the kids picture taken with him. Then when we made it to the Barstow Station McDonald’s had in their Happy Meals toys of The Wizard of Oz. It was absolutely incredible how everything fit in together. I forgot to mention that my kids were all in the musical of The Wizard of Oz at school before we left for Georgia. I couldn't have planned that even if I had tried! I just love it when God shines on us like that.

I love it too when you can sense that you are where you should be at the right time. When you have someone on your mind that you know you need to talk to and God allows that person to cross your path. I know when those times happen I have to act on it. God never ceases to amazing me when he does that. Even when I’m looking to buy something God places it in plain sight and I can say, “Thank you God!” Sometimes things seem so trivial like asking for a set of bunk beds or looking for that certain blouse that you want, or seeing a beautiful rainbow, sunrise or sunset just so God can cheer you up. He is so good!

Then there are the times when I hear someone’s tragic story but they can tell you they knew God’s hand was in it all. God helped them get through the tough times. I know he has helped me many times like that. I love those times when I’m reminded of God’s love for me. 

God spoke to my heart and he wanted me to go to Mexico and I responded to his call. I will never regret it with everything he showed me at The Restoration Home for Women. To build relationships with these ladies, to sending for help for the mattresses that were needed. And now coming back and knowing God wanted me to involve other people in the lives of these women. The call has been answered and women have come forward to help these ladies in Mexico. I absolutely love it!

If you have ever had doubts about whether or not God is really there or if he really listens to your cries, just ask him for something. Ask him to reveal himself to you. He’ll show up…BIG TIME!

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