Awe & Wonder Adventures

 

Monica's lighthouse

If we look for God, we will find Him. He is everywhere. It’s the wonder of creation because He created everything! A few years ago, our young grandson was in awe and wonder in his stroller, as we made our adventurous way through the neighborhood.

“Mia, what’s it like to be a bird?”

I said, “I’m not sure but I know they can fly very fast and build nests in trees for their babies. I know God makes them sound like they’re singing His praises.”

He said, “Do they talk to each other?”

I said, “Yes, I believe they do.”

Our walk that day also consisted of his beautiful, child-like questions about what it's like to be a tree, a squirrel, a cloud, and as he kept looking up, he asked me how big the sky is. He asked about all the multi-colored flowers flourishing in our neighbors' yards as we strolled past them. I loved it.

God will speak to us, too, through His creation, as He did for my friend Monica. In March of this year Monica received a diagnosis no woman wants to hear.  She was told it was very serious and needed to be dealt with right away.

As soon as this dramatic, life-threatening news was shared with her family and close friends, the constant fervent prayers were sent up to heaven like a powerful steady stream of smoke billowing out of an industrial smokestack.

The prayers of the saints never stopped through all the tests, surgeries, doctor visits, hospital stays, checkups, tests and more surgeries and more tests. I had not seen my friend for months, but we communicated often, and mostly through her oldest daughter, Braelyn, who kept me posted with texts while Monica was still deep in painful recovery.

Good news came when Monica was told she did not have to go through chemotherapy. She was at home with her family, still recovering. Then in late August we were able to meet up at her favorite cozy coffee shop, and I was astounded to see the transformation in her! She looked rested and absolutely radiant. I was thrilled to sit down with her and hear what God had done for her.

She told me she spent every morning on her front porch, “with God, my Bible, prayer, and coffee.”  It was post-surgery and she was on her way to total recovery.  The first day she noticed a Mama bird bringing food into a bird house--it was shaped like an actual lighthouse -- that hung above her on the porch. She watched her fly out and disappear for a few minutes and returned with more food for the baby birds.

Monica watched it several days in a row and told me, “Then my heart was hearing God, and I felt so much peace come over me. He said to my heart, ‘sustain.’  When Mama bird was going to her babies, she was sustaining them. They didn’t have to do anything! They just waited for her to provide! And God said to my heart, ‘Let me continue to sustain you with My power, My provision and I’m going to give you everything you need. It’s not your power.”

She said, “God was telling me to stop worrying about situations that come up because He is in sovereign control and I don’t have to wear myself out trying to fix things anymore because He will sustain me, emotionally, physically, and mentally. He gave me a mental picture of seeing Him like the baby birds see the Mama bird, resting in Him and trusting Him to provide everything I need!”

When Monica and I left the coffee shop, I was in awe in what I experienced, I almost floated back home. I was deeply inspired after our little reunion, so blessed to see it up close. She had Rediscovered the Wonder of God in a new way and she was delightfully, gratefully changed forever!

Personal Note: God has revealed the same powerful truth through time spent with my beloved grandson, Jesse, as with my sweet friend, Monica. On our long, relaxing strolls through our neighborhood, Jesse's child-like faith always produced a joy-filled adventure. Monica was being restored and refreshed on her front porch enjoying her surroundings, too. She was truly grateful. That's when God speaks the loudest, when we slow down, breathe deeply, and live in the wonder and awe of The God of all Creation!

Polly 💖