Let me give you an example of how the Spirit can work in our lives.
Deborah and I just returned from a trip to Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington state. It was epic!
I was off social media and email and messages for 5 days.
It was amazing to just reset my mind which can become frenetic and addicted to screen and being productive!
Reading through C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, and I am on the 2nd book. I am going to give you the plot. I don’t want to ruin it for you, but it came out in 1943 so you’ve had your chance to be surprised for quite awhile now!
Basically, a British professor ends up on Venus where there is their version of Adam and Eve. There is this fascinating moment where the professor is trying to understand why Eve does what she does. For example, they don’t eat overeat. They eat and then stop when full even though the fruits are the most delicious thing he’s ever tasted! She explains that there is no reason not to trust God and obey God because she’s fully aware that everything that comes to her is a gift from God.
So on our trip, I tried to have that posture.
“Heavenly Father, help me to see everything that comes to us today as a gift from you!”
Now just before the trip, I had prayed asking God to understand more of His glory. A few days later as we were driving around Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park, I realized that He was answering my prayer as His creation shows a glimpse of His glory.
One day we are driving to the Lamar Valley in our hopes of seeing more wild animals! It felt like we were on a safari or in the movie Jurassic Park as we came across bison, bears, pronghorns, elk, and all sorts of birds! I was trying to get to the Lamar Valley early which is when most animals are visible, but my sweet wife wanted coffee and she wanted to stop here and there for pictures. So I’m drinking my huckleberry latte, and I am on a mission. Now the park literally had just opened the road to the Lamar Valley the day before because of all the snow still on the roads. So we are driving on the road before most people had even known it was possible! Those animals have gone months without people coming to watch them!
As we are driving I pointed out how odd it was that none of the lists we found about places to visit in Yellowstone had included finding the caldera. You see, Yellowstone has all of these thermal features like geysers and bubbling mud pits because it is on a volcano. Well just after I mentioned that, Deborah wanted to stop at an outlook, but I’m on a mission so I kept going. I felt convicted so I am came back to the outlook. It was gorgeous! As we are looking out over this valley, I see the sign explaining what we were seeing, and it said we were at the outlook to see the Yellowstone Caldera! (Pic)
Stuff like this kept happening over and over.
On our last day at Yellowstone, I was standing at the side of beautiful lake and just prayed, “I wonder what you will bring to us today.” I walked back to the car, and Deborah pointed down the street where there was a coyote walking towards us!
Now here is the catch, I find it so much easier to rest with God and listen to His voice. And by the way, this doesn’t mean our trip wasn’t filled with disappointing moments. You won’t see on my instagram the police officer who gave me a speeding ticket that’s going to cost me $290 or the 2 ticks the young adults standing next to us in line for coffee in Jackson, WY pulled off their necks.
And coming back to using my phone and coming back to Austin, there are far more distractions that make it harder to see God at work, but He is! The key is to see it!
It’s like this app Deborah started using on our trip called Merlin. My nephew introduced it to us. It identifies the birds all around you by their sounds.
So what you and I might just hear as birds singing in the morning, look what Merlin notices. Look at all the different types of birds heard in our backyard here in South Austin! We miss most of them all the time!
Are you looking for God to be at work?
Do you see how He may be answering your prayers in ways you didn’t expect?
Are you sensitive to the Spirit?
If not, ask Him for His help and start today!
