Seeing God in the Ordinary

I’m certain that listing all the ways that come to mind of how I might see God in the ordinary would result in a post much too long to enjoyably read. Why? Because God’s hand is in everything – the good the bad, the all. He knows every breath we take. He has counted every hair on our heads (this one may be more meaningful for some of us than for others). He determines our days.

But how often do we take notice of his daily working in the minutia of our lives? I know I fail to do it as often as I should (which should be, like, daily).

My analytical personality combined with a healthy dose of skepticism causes me to question things that seem to good to be true. (Because we all know, “if it sounds too good to be true….”) But God is different. He IS true. Everything we have, everything we are, comes from him. And sometimes it’s like he slips in an extra little gift to encourage us or to speak to our hearts. Do we notice them? Do we thank him? Or do we let our minds tell us it’s just our imagination?

Write it down when you see it!

One of my regrets over the years is that, because I don’t like to handwrite things, I never took journaling seriously. Once I stopped keeping a diary as a teenager (yes, I wrote nightly for years in one of those secret little books with the lock that anyone could pick with a bobby pin), I did zero journaling until maybe my 40’s. Even then, it was sporadic and I never really documented the meaningful stuff.

Enter the Notes app on my iPhone. It is so easy now to quickly grab my phone and type up what just happened. Doing this helps me remember how it impacted me so that I don’t lose that memory later. I’m not keeping a full-fledged daily journal, but it is such a nice thing to refer back to when I’m struggling with anxiety and need a reminder of God’s love and provision in my own life.

We know God wants us to trust him and remember how he cares for people. Look at all we learn from the Old Testament about how He cared for the Israelites, often in miraculous ways. We see in the New Testament gospels Jesus’s compassion for the crowds who followed him as well as for his disciples and friends. He healed them. He fed them. He raised some of them from the dead. All this is recorded – journaled – in God’s divinely inspired word, the bible.

Sure, those were big deals. Miracles even. What about the little things? Or maybe we think, “Yeah, but that’s not MY life. That was a long time ago and it happened to someone else.”

So, here are two recent instances where I believe the Lord was bringing to my attention that He was present in my life and that out of his love and mercy he was providing what I needed at that time. They’re just little things. Ordinary things. They could almost be overlooked. But they’re so meaningful to me!

God in the ordinary (#1)

Our church hosted a three-day seminar for 80 pastors and teachers in the area and reached out to me for assistance for the first morning since I’m not currently working. Being shy and somewhat introverted, volunteering is never high on my want-to-do list. However, God asks us to have servant hearts and I desire to obey Him. I prayed during the commute that He would give me confidence and that I would be a help and not a hindrance.

From the moment I walked in the building I felt peace. My “job” was in the background, setting up coffee and snacks. I had an opportunity to visit with a couple members I’d not seen in a while as well as get better acquainted with a couple others who were also volunteering. I didn’t drop cups or cookies on the floor or anything so I consider it a success. And, it was actually rather enjoyable.

Our small group of volunteers was enjoying lunch together in the kitchen. We were just finishing up when something caused me to look at the clock on the wall. It was 12:40pm! Yikes – I had planned to leave at 12:20pm in order to allow travel time to my son’s school. It was an early out day and I needed to pick him up by 12:58pm. I was in trouble and I knew it! He doesn’t take his phone to school so there was no way to let him know. I could picture him walking around the parking lot in a panic not knowing what to do because Mom wasn’t there.

Trust God, not self

It was what it was. I can’t turn back time so I set out on my journey, trying not to speed because I believe God wants us to obey authorities, but my heart was in my throat the entire drive. To my amazement I hit every light green in town and the stretch of interstate I had to travel was smooth sailing as well. I pulled into the school lot at 1:00pm and immediately was able to find a favorable parking spot (a rarity when school dismisses). I looked around – no sign of him anywhere. I panicked a little.

Then I saw him walking out of the building. He apologized for being late, stating it took him longer to put things away in English and that he ran into a friend on the way out and they were visiting.

My son is always more than ready to go home at the end of his school day and his exit from the building is very predictable. But today he was delayed…just enough so that I was able to be there to pick him up when he came out.

Without all those puzzle pieces coming together in my favor I would have easily been 4-5 minutes late getting to him. I believe God allowed me the fellowship I needed with the other volunteers and that he then got my attention (the clock) and orchestrated the smooth travel and my son’s late exit from school.

Now, as a friend reminded me, God could have just as easily allowed me to not arrive in time and my son to be alone and frightened. Would God have still been working in my life. Yes! Probably to discipline me and teach me to better manage my time. But in this case I feel like he showed his love as a compassionate Father and I’m grateful!

God in the ordinary (#2)

This one almost gives me chills writing it because of how it touched my heart at the time.

The day after the above volunteer experience I was in my prayer closet doing my devotions. I had skipped the reading from My Daily Bread (I subscribe to their quarterly paper devotional) the previous day because I was at the church function during my normal devotion time so I was going back to read it now. It was about God’s word being our lifeline to keep us from losing our way.

At the end, it asked “What promises from scripture give you hope?”

Well, there are several I go to frequently but the first one that came to mind was “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13).

And then my brain went to a verse or verses I don’t remember as well or think of as frequently nor did I remember the scripture reference – just that it comes from the gospels and went something like this:

“I will not lose any my father gives me. Nothing will snatch them out of my hand.” (in my words, from my memory…)

A moment of peace came over me as I put those two together. Nothing (not terrors nor failures nor even something like dementia) will undo what Jesus has done when we come in faith to Him for salvation! I have called on Jesus. No one/nothing has the power to undo what Christ has done.

But wait…it gets better!

I moved on to today’s devotion which was about Jesus’s sheep listening to His voice. The scripture reference was John 10:1-6, 27. I always try read the scripture before I read the devotion. I got to verse 27 which says:

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

And as I so often do, I read a little further.

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28)

There it was! The very verse that God put on my heart just a few moments earlier. It was as if he was driving home his point, reinforcing it, to reassure me. I may not have even picked up on this if I’d done each devotion on its designated day. Or had had I gone to any one of many other comforting verses when I was thinking about that question in the devotion, I would have missed it. But that’s not what happened. Because God works in all things!

What are your “God in the ordinary” experiences? Be on the lookout. When you see God work in the ordinary in your life, be sure to document it so that you can refer back when doubts start to creep in.