By Randy Grathen
(Thank you Wendy)
Have you noticed that God doesn’t make us? You know, when something happens, and you think it might have been a God-thing but then you begin to rationalize the whole situation and start telling yourself that it would have happened that way anyway and it was really just fate at work? I have…
God doesn’t make us believe in Him. We have to choose to believe. We have to have faith. I think that that is one of the key differences, the lynchpin our faith is grounded on. God doesn’t want robots, He wants relationship. He wants us to trust him. But trust is something that grows over time.
In Deuteronomy 31:6 we are told, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." When we first become saved, He might do something really BIG and we know that we know that it was only because of God that it happened. But, as our relationship with him matures I think he becomes more subtle. Not always. He will still do BIG stuff once in a while just to amaze us and give us something to smile about for a long time afterwards. But the little things, the subtle things, are his way of saying “do you still trust me?” He tests us to make sure we are paying attention. Sometimes the biggest revelations about God come when we are musing over some little thing, and we have one of those “Aha” moments.
I have a friend who started a diary called My High Places. In old testament times when God did some BIG thing the people found the highest place in the surrounding area, built an altar and named the place for some attribute that God revealed about himself to his people. They did this to remind future generations of what God had done there. (They never have build an alter to commerate the greatest miracle of all... Jesus' birth.) My friend uses her book of high places to remind herself of all the times God revealed a bit of himself to her. It was especially comforting during troubling times in her life. She could look back over the pages of her diary and know that she was not alone. That she hadn’t been forgotten nor forsaken.
I’ve started such a diary. It's called Our High Places. Some of the things that have happened in my life were so big that I thought I’d never forget a single detail or emotion associated with it at that time. But I’m finding that in the retelling; over the years, that is not true.
God doesn’t waste anything, and I believe that He doesn’t want me to either. Jesus spent three years teaching the Apostles everything they needed to know in order to go out and preach the Good News of Salvation. He didn’t expect the Apostles to go back to their campfires, mend their nets, and reminisce about the good ol’ days they spent with Jesus.
You are one of a kind. Never to be repeated. Every experience you’ve had in life is yours alone. Because of that, your story will be able to touch someone in a way that will make a difference to them. Your experience may be the one thing that makes all the pieces fall into place for someone else who is searching for the truth or an answer to why something is the way it is. I pray you get the opportunity to plant, water and see the harvest of someone’s soul. Remember, all of heaven rejoices over one lost soul coming to salvation. Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Heaven did it for you, now help someone else experience that joy too.
I pray that God continues to toss little miracles in your path. It’s kinda’ like him winking at you if you have the faith to recognize it for what it is. God bless you!
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