Synchronicity is really my thing. I just love how events will often play out and all line up in my favor. These are small things, silly things really, but little miracles that let me know that I am greatly loved and that there is wonderous mystery at play in the world.
Following Christ can be quite an adventure, a bit like a scavenger hunt, where seeking Him will reveal these little treasures and clues that will bring you to the next level. Sometimes I think of this relationship as if it were a video game. Once in a while I am compelled to follow the same path over and over again because I am trapped in some kind of ridiculous maze. Sometimes I have to fight the same old demons and sometimes Christ just suddenly levels up the whole game.
Someone told me faith was boring which actually made me laugh, because in truth it really is a grand adventure, whether you are collapsing in hysterics at the foot of a King or roaming around lost in the desert. It is exciting and sometimes rather terrifying, but boring it is not. In fact, it can often be so challenging we have to lean into His peace that surpasses all understanding and just relax and take a break.
Long ago I learned to perceive everything as a miracle, to take note of every answered prayer, no matter how silly I may think it is. I regret not having learned this sooner, because I wasted entirely too much time thinking prayers were not answered, that God didn’t hear me. That wasn’t true at all, the truth was I didn’t see them and pay attention to all the ways He communicates with me and grants me things I desire.
Not all of them mind you, I have still not gotten my Ferrari or won the lottery….also, I know I prayed a lot for a pony once, but please don’t give me one now, I’ve changed my mind. In fact, a pony would be most inconvenient at this point…
I’ve had a lovely week of simple answered prayers. Lord, I wish I had a purple shirt to go with my skirt…and there it was delivered right into my hands. Lord, I don’t want to blog while my husband watches football tonight, and poof, the power went out. (Do not tell my husband, he was bummed about missing the game, but it was replaced with my heart’s desire, which was a delightful conversation.)
Lord, I miss some of the old hymns, the ones that are easy to sing…and in church today the power was out again, so we sang those old hymns instead. How perfect that was.
Lord, I really wish I could raid my favorite salad bar….and sure enough less than an hour later hubby needed to go look at a house, so he dropped me and the kid off at our favorite place. Even better, he forgot it was dinner time and grabbed a sandwich on the way back. So I got my salad, some time with the kid who rarely wants to be seen with me anymore, and I didn’t have to cook anyone dinner.
There are dozens of these little mundane things that I sometimes speak to God of in prayer in the morning, things I never tell anyone about or mention, that somehow just manage to weave their way into my day. I could look upon them with jaded eyes and speak of confirmation biases and coincidences or I could just close my eyes and feel the music.
I chose to just close my eyes and feel the music.
******Repost from Aug 2015
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Teaching my four year old that we can pray and ask God for things has been such a great reminder to my own self what I tend to forget… we have not because we ask not. It’s been building up my faith, too, as I watch him trust with child-like faith and no filters or doubt, praying and believing and then seeing God answer his prayers. Speaking of the old hymns {I too love and miss them all}, I alway love What a Friend we Have in Jesus. “What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer…” Answers aside, it’s amazing that we can even pray in the first place… that God hears us and cares.
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Amen, God hears us and He cares. Often children seem to understand that better than we do. I suppose as adults we’re more compelled to try to rationalize things away. Nothing wrong with a bit of reason now and then, it’s just that Christ was right when He said, come unto me like a little child.
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A person who thinks faith is boring has really never stepped out in faith.
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Love the post! Prayer is such a difficult concept that I doubt I will ever understand it.
Remember when we were children? What happened we asked Mommy and Daddy for something like a pony or a real sixshooter? I think our heavenly Father exercises similar restraints. I know a guy who shot himself when he was practicing his quick draw — as an adult. It was only a flesh wound, but he still was not ready to have that prayer answered.
Nobody laughed. We just did this.
🙄
I think some people believe faith is boring either because they don’t know or they don’t care what the word means. Either they think or they want to believe faith means eternally sitting in a church mumbling prayers and singing hymns off key, but that is not faith. That is boring.
Faith has to do with the courage to act upon what we believe. If we believe we know how to swim, but we fear water too much to get in it, that is boring. If we believe Jesus is God, but we do nothing to tell others about Him, that is boring.
When people take a stand for what they believe, they will not be bored. Early Christians were not bored. They were afraid. Some died in pain. Some saw their loved ones die in pain, but they were not bored. In our era, Christians still face such threats. Here in the United States, the threat is more subtle. Our opponents want to make us out as crazy, extremists, dupes, or ….. They would like to shame and intimidate us into silence and then ridicule us for believing they are doing any such thing. Struggling such conniving people is not boring. It is just sad to believe our brothers and sisters can be so foolish. Nevertheless, when Jesus saves a soul, that is a joy to see.
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Thanks, Tom. I laughed at this, “When people take a stand for what they believe, they will not be bored.” Bit of gallows humor I suppose, but nope, you sure won’t be bored. 😉
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Love this. I often think of faith in terms of a roller coaster ride. You get to experience all the excitement while at the same time are safely held in the Fathers hands. Faith works well as long as I don’t forget He has hold of me or a minor/major panic attack can set it. Yet, I really enjoy the excitement of the journey. I love roller coasters, its my thing. : )
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Awesome, a roller coaster ride! Yes, faith is not unlike a trip to the amusement park. Great comment. There’s a reason Christ told us to come unto him like a child. 😉
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Isn’t that a hoot how that happens? My only problem is turning it off. It is moving time here with summer students going and winter students coming. I needed a desk chair so i asked for it – in a low key way, not really a prayer but more like a suggestion, like creating an empty spot for a chair inside yourself and then letting the universe fill it – and the next day I opened my back door and the complex handyman was walking across the yard with a desk chair on his head. (literally inverted so the wheels were in the air and the seat cushion rested on his head with the back and arms hanging down the sides). I hollered at him and he said he was throwing it out because the back was loose. I took it, tightened the screws holding the back and it is perfect. So, the day after that I was walking home from the store and there was another desk chair on the side of the road (people around here put good furniture out for anyone to take if they don’t want it anymore). I left it. The day after I came out the front door and there was another desk chair across the street. I spent a week now dodging desk chairs. Ha!
It is so cool how that works. And to those who think God is boring they are holding on from the outside. The really good stuff happens when you get inside – or rather welcome God into your life. It is astounding. And, barring a life changing epiphany (like the one in my last fiction post) – it is so so difficult to help others understand that. Ah well, what can you do but dodge the desk chairs – Ha! 😀
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Ha! What a great story, Paul. You are so right, those things really do happen, ask and you shall receive.
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When I was around nine part of my daily wanderings to school was past a drug store window, where there was a rocket space squirt gun for 29cents. Of course I didn’t have 29 cents, but man did I admire that. One mile each way, true story. 2 feet of snow? Ha, no snoflakes back in the day, it’s called life kid. Put your boots on.
Coming home it was a visit to the cobbler, where the old shoes were polished and the place just smelled so manly, lots of leather. Loved that. Oops, back from the detour…… A few weeks later I looked down on the ground and yep you guessed it, there sat in a pile 29 cents. Ok mabe it was 31 cents, but guess what I bought? Believe me, that was a big deal, and I so get your ‘boring’ accusations, as if God is not the master of Adventure.
He puts things into our lives that can easily be missed as coming from Him. His goodness prevails, layer after layer, like a great sheet coming down… 😉
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What a wonderful story, Colorstorm! God is good, indeed. He sure knows the secret desires of our heart.
Love the cobbler, too. Hubby and I were just talking about that, missing the smell of leather, the craftsmanship. The cobbler my hubby used to enjoy actually had a monkey in the window. No school buses either. There was a little girl who used to ride her pony to school and her dad actually gave her a rifle in case she had any trouble along the way.
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Ah the memories, to borrow the voice of the incomparable Streisand, even tho her politics are a bit edgy. 😉
And your pony tale? (pony tail?) Seemed like a good idea at the time, but we don’t see the big picture sometimes; the food, the shelter, vet bills, and how our momentary elation could turn into huge problems.
Answered prayer comes in many shapes and sizes yes? Sometimes its not now, not in a few years, not ever. Sometimes its STAT.
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All I gotta say, God always finds a funny way to share things with me. Even when rebuking. He knows, that’s the best way to get my attention. (there’s some hard stuff in there too, but for the most part…he likes laughing with me.)
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I have a friend who calls those “sighing prayers.” Prayers almost said with a sigh that God hears and finds crazy way to answer them! Like you, she’s had dozens of these prayers answered, some were significant, like, “God, it would be nice to have a brand new car” (answered, by the way). I think the key there is that she never asks because of greed and she’s very generous and thoughtful to help others. I think God enjoys doing this for her. Probably you, too. 🙂
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