god hunting, part 4: archives
Last week I gave you an example of one of the ways to use the God Hunt in noting and thanking God for any obviously answered prayer. But let me give you some recent examples of the other ways.
How about any unexpected evidence of his care? In February at a women’s church retreat, we were put in small groups where we spoke words of appreciation over each other. Before going home, we were each asked to write a love letter to ourselves from God. All of those letters were put in individually self-addressed envelopes and given to the woman who organized the retreat. I forgot all about it. February was SO LONG AGO.
So, September 17, when a letter appeared in my mailbox with my address written in my own writing, I was confused. I opened the envelope and read, “Dear Liz, Women have spoken lovely words over you today. I want you to know that they were speaking my words for you.” There was more, but toward the end it said, “I have put in your heart the desire to bless. I have blessed you to be a blessing—give away my love freely. You will always be replenished. I will never stop pouring through you. I will never run dry. Love, God.” Boy, was that unexpected! I don’t even remember writing those words. But they were such balm to my weary soul!!!!
Any help to do God’s work in the world. At the end of September, when the leader of women’s ministries told me that our pastor’s wife wouldn’t be available to do a teaching on the once-a-month Zoom women’s gathering, she asked if I would do it. I was filled with dread. Tanya’s talk was so perfect in August, and I had nothin’. But I said I would pray about it. I woke up Saturday morning, still dreading the thought. I texted Tanya to pray for me, and as I waited for her to return my text, an idea began to come to me. I put my hands on the resources for the talk, and by the time Tanya called, I knew what I was going to speak about, just KNEW it. The idea came to me almost fully formed. I went from dread to excitement. If that isn’t help, I don’t know what is.
The last one is the most fun…Any unusual linkage or timing. For the last few years I’ve been trying to take one room or closet each week and do a thorough purge. At the beginning of 2020 I had come to the large, walk-in closet in our guest house where all of my husband’s professional items were kept. Scripts, video tapes of TV episodes and movie dailies, and memorabilia lined the shelves and filled bins stacked on the floor, six feet high. This was a job I didn’t think I could do and didn’t want to do. But I have a friend who is very good at organizing, so I showed her the project and asked if I could pay her to do the work. Then COVID-19 hit, and she and her family had to go into lockdown to protect her husband who has a serious pre-existing condition. With everything suddenly removed from my plate, I decided to try to tackle the project myself.
My ultimate goal was to inventory and organize the contents, so that one day it can be donated to a college film program, somewhere that students might really benefit from using the contents to learn how TV shows and films evolve from conception to completion. So, I began by taking everything out, photographing and writing a description of each item. I admit that when I started in May I found the experience overwhelming and tiring. I could only put in about an hour a day without succumbing to fatigue of body and brain. But I chipped away at it over the summer, photographing almost seven hundred items.
As Labor Day weekend approached, my son-in-law’s parents, who hadn’t seen the grandsons since March, decided to fly out for a visit. We offered them our guest house so that everyone could have a bit of social distancing. The room where I was working had a lock on the door. The plan was that since there were just two of them, they wouldn’t use that room. The weekend before they arrived, I realized that I was very close to completing the project. It suddenly seemed that with one big push, I could have everything catalogued, organized in boxes and off the bedroom floor so that I could unlock the room and the whole house could be theirs (in case they wanted to have any sleepovers with the little boys). I worked for about six hours a day for a couple of days, and put the last box in place two hours before their plane touched down at the airport. A God sighting of timing four months in the making!
I will share one more example of a God sighting next week.
Love, Liz
