Okay - I'm going to try to keep this one really short...I'm super tired, but I've tried several different times this week to post...and I told myself I wasn't going to bed tonight until I posted.
So for several years now, I've tried to make the presence of God real to me. Ways that His character has been made clear or known to me. You know, seeing God in the details of life...everyday stuff. For instance, when I lived in my apartment and prime parking spots were few and fair between - on those nights when I'd come home super late (like after 10 p.m.) and have my hands full of groceries or stuff to carry across the parking lot and up the steps - only to turn the corner to find a primo parking spot open...I'd simple out loud say - "Thanks Lord!"...just like I would if it were someone giving me something. Once there was a time when I opened my electric bill in the middle of the summer only to find a zero balance with an additional $25 for the next month - because the electric company forgot to credit my account several months before for a deposit I made when starting my service. But the super cool part was the next day I found I that I needed brakes on my car and the cost of the breaks was the amount I had budgeted for my electric - and I had a friend put them on...God knew I'd need new brakes and he provided for me. Or running a few minutes behind, because I forget something and have to run back in the house...then seeing an accident happen in the location I would have been in - had I not gone back inside. I do this often...I try to find God in the everyday stuff...it draws me closer to Him. And not being able to see Him with my own eyes...doesn't seem limit his knowledge of what's happening to me at that very moment.
Well twice this week - I've realized the Omniscience of God.
Experience #1 - Beth:
Well on November 20th I got the most exciting e-mail request. My friend Beth - who lives and teaches in China was going to surprise her family and come home during the Chinese New Year. She was to land on 1/30 at 9:21 p.m., and she needed someone to pick her up! But of course, it was to be a surprise!! That meant telling others was pretty restricted - you gotta be careful who you tell things too...it could slip out! SO in the midst of my willingness to help her out and my pure excitement that she was going to be home - a thought came across my mind. Oh no - she was going to be traveling for a day plus, halfway around the world without her family knowing..."Oh Lord, you got to protect her", was the prayer of my heart at that moment. "Oh Lord, I need people to pray for her travels...but I have to keep that list very limited, but she needs lots of prayers - this is a super long and tiring trip." Over the next two months I shared her arrival with only a handful of people...with very strict guidelines that "mum was the word" - begging them to pray for her. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't discounting God's ability to get her here safely - I just knew that this trip needed extra special prayer. Then last week, I put on the youth prayer board my name with "unspoken" next to it...in the Sunday slot. That way the entire youth group could be praying for this "unspoken" request...all the while praying Beth home from China! I even had one teen ask what "unspoken" meant...I told him it means that God knows the prayer request of my heart, but I'm not able to share the request with others just yet. Well Beth made it home, safely - not one ounce of issues. Made all of her connections - even in Beijing during Chinese New Year (which Beth told me is like traveling in the US during the Holidays), she landed early in c-bus and her bag was first one out on the luggage marry-go-round deal. Her surprise was a success! As I stood outside the home of her parents on that briskly cold Sunday evening - I could hear the screams of her family as she entered the house. Screams of excitement. The closer I got to the house, I could hear her mother sobbing with joy to hold her girl in her arms one more time. Before I entered the house - I stopped and thanked God for bringing Beth home and for taking care of every detail of her trip...including knowing how much her family needed to see her, giving her the idea/desire to want to visit and providing her the time and finances to come home!
Experience #2 - Working Late:
It's a super busy time right now at work, and I've been working over some to stay on top of projects and tasks. However, I'm not a fan of staying to late - since I take the bus...after a certain time the bus only comes every 20 minutes or so and it's WAY to cold to be standing outside waiting for the bus. Well yesterday - I was debating from which location I should board the bus in the morning. The one closest to home or the one closest to church. Each one had it's pros/cons. With all the icky ice, I've been driving to the location closest to home...less driving on the ice for me, and I get home sooner in the evening. But it was Wednesday - and that meant I had to be at IBC for Youth. However, they were calling for more inclement weather during the day - I was thinking IBC would cancel services. But what if they didn't - then I'd be rushing to get there in time. But if I park at the one closest to the church and they cancel - well then I'd have further to drive home in nasty weather. UGH - I just don't like the winter! But I decided that since the roads weren't so bad yesterday morning, I'd go with the one closest to church - since more than likely I would be there that evening. Then mid-day we were notified that IBC was closed due to ice around the church. GREAT...I picked the wrong location! The day went on and I found myself in the office later than I wanted to be...especially since it was cold, snowy and icy. Thankfully the main roads weren't all to bad! I know the pick-up times around my usual departure from work - but I'm not good with pick-up times after 5:30. The sun was starting to set and I figured I'd better get going...I didn't want to be downtown in the dark waiting outside for the bus. As I was walking to the elevator, I could see a bus pull away! GREAT...now my time is off too! I was nearing the time when the buses start to run every 20 min instead of every 10. So I knew I had to hustle! No - just enjoying the scenery walking if I was going to catch the next bus headed West. I got to the stop and waited for about 5 min. - which felt like forever in the cold. Soon the #10 bus pulled up - this one was headed only to Wilson Road. That didn't really sink in at first. Then once I was settled in my seat - I looked up as the marquee on the bus and it flashed 6:00 p.m. - and I was on a bus headed only to Wilson Road. Okay - you are wondering why this is so significant...after 6:00 p.m. the pick-ups come every 20 min. If I had parked at the location closest to my home - I would have had to wait for next #10 bus - as this bus didn't take me that far West. Then I would have been out in the cold for almost 30 min., the sun would have been set and almost to bed at that point, and I would have been in downtown C-bus alone. Yeah - not a good situation to be in! But that's okay - I didn't have to experience it...because God knew the details and He took care of me! Even early in the morning, He knew what my day would hold and the details of my schedule wouldn't be the normal details. He knew! As I rode home last night - I just praised God for the way He provided even a COTA bus going to the right destination at the right time - to show me that He knows EVERYTHING about me and my needs! And that not only does He know...He provides!
What great peace it brings me to know that my God is not only loving, giving, merciful and kind - but that He also is Omniscient...about everything, including me.
