Godspeak

Today I experienced the loveliest demonstration of divine intervention. Boy, when you start a story out that way, you really have to deliver…but I think I can. This is a perfect example of how God shows up in the most subtle ways. His language is all too easy to overlook; foreign to many.  Without open hearts and minds that are trained and sensitive to his communication, we could miss the best moments of our lives.  

Last night, I’m being a responsible adult mom, making treats for about 20 VBS (Vacation Bible School) volunteers at my church. I made two types of s’mores treats, 2 dozen mini-muffin sized treats and a dozen regular cupcake sized ones, you know, because I had leftover ingredients and we can’t waste. That’d be tragic. Mistake #1: I baked a snack (without a recipe) that I have never made before. That’s right, I dreamed something up that I thought would taste good and executed it with my limited baking understanding for some of the world’s best VBS mommy volunteers.

 

I made them right before bed, during my 15 sacred minutes between child bedtime routines and when I pass out from exhaustion, pulled them out of the oven and set them, covered, on top of the stove, then turned in for the night. Note: All my SAHM (stay at home mom) friends who have been here before, because everyone has to start somehwere, and my wonderful ladies who just enjoy baking know where this story is going. Needless to say, when I awoke I discovered that my yummy mini-muffin s’mores treats had become sticky caramelized marshmallow taffy treats that may have been good if advertised as candy except that they looked like someone had regurgitated them. Not using those.

 

I checked my cupcake-sized s’mores, those looked edible. So I grabbed them on my way out the door. Let’s not forget that I didn’t grab shoes because I have 16 pair in my car, (Mistake #2) so I’ll throw some on later. When I pull into my space at church, however, I remember that I cleaned out my car last night. No shoes. I fought with myself for a minute about what to do. I am already rendering an offering of a dozen potentially disgusting treats to a group of 20 or so super-moms. Would it be the nail in my coolness-coffin to deliver them barefoot?  I decided it’s church, and we bring our good, bad, and ugly here. On the way in I dropped 2 of them, so now that’s approximately half the needed amount of treats. I’m on a roll.

People were nice; they smiled and laughed with me about my shoes and my not so great treats. Fast forward to exiting the church engrossed in self-doubt and shame, I am now worried about the treats that I just dropped off. Thinking about the people who will be trying them, asking who brought them, and dreaming of someone choking on it or spitting it out and throwing it away…’they would have just not brought anything’. Just then I caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Radiant, smiling; I recognized it as the face of a young woman with children who learned recently that she has a rare and serious form of cancer with a low survival rate. She is a member of my church and a recent video testimony of this learning process in her faith life has gone viral among locals.  I didn’t even have to think about it, I started after her and said “Ma’am?”

She turned around. It could have been awkward, or forced. It could have seemed trite and intrusive. There are so many ways that our impromptu conversation may have gone, but it was natural, and surreal and heavenly. I tell her that I’ve seen her video and hug her and thank her for her strength, for sharing her story of pain and darkness and realizing that she has a purpose, a Godly purpose for this trial. She tells me she feels as though God is carrying her. That now, all she feels is blessed when she wakes up each day. We hug, and smile, and love each other like we are sisters. And we are. We are heavenly sisters, whose spirits yearn for our home and we don’t even recognize it because our bodies are so heavy on this earth that they overpower our upward longing.

 

Looking back, I am surprised that people passing by didn’t stop and watch in awe of the aura of light coming surrounding our union. It sounds dramatic, but it was dramatic. It was a brief moment of such clarity and peace and love, one that can only come from God. And it changed my perspective on the day, on this whole week.

My life, filled with trepidation about the opening of a new restaurant, and missing my husband as he leads that process, and balancing service to my church family, and job, and kids, and friends, and those in need and struggling with illness…the list goes on. But it seems we all have a similar list, I am reminded that it’s not our circumstances that define us, rather how we handle them.

The most interesting part is not how natural our meeting was, it’s how it happened. God spoke to me this morning, not in words, but by a divine appointment that I recognized I was meant for. If I had not recognized that I should speak with my new friend this wonderful, unforgettable and pivotal moment in my existence would never have happened. God doesn’t speak with a resounding thunderous voice in my head. He speaks in moments. These God moments are not coincidence. They are the deliberate manner in which God speaks to his children who have ‘ears to hear.’ Practice listening. You’ll be surprised what you find.

But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.           

   ~Matthew 13:16-17