Feel you in the wind

I'm reading a book right now called "Nine Ways God Always Speaks".  I figured it might be hokey, as it is hard to judge Christians books by their cover.  You never know when you might pick up a Joel Osteen-esque book and immediately regret your decision, but this one is causing me to think....and that is a start.  I guess I'm not very open to hearing God speak to me, which is pretty ridiculous considering I firmly believe that is possible and that it happens.  I can even think back on moments in my life where I feel like God has spoken to me, not in an audible sense, but in a way that I couldn't ignore.  Usually circumstances line themselves up in just such a way that despite my best efforts, God is planning on telling me something and wants me to move in a certain direction.  Or maybe he shows me love in a really specific way that only he could.

Like today, I had a ridiculous day at work.  Before my Mom could even get home and get a call from me explaining how beat up emotionally I was, she called and asked if I was ok and took me out to dinner.  No explanation necessary.  All afternoon I had been thinking of how I needed to spend time with someone tonight and not come home to an empty apartment, and God answered in such a small, but significant way.  It is that call from a friend when you have been thinking about them all day and wishing you could hear their voice.  Or it is that letter that you get in the mail on an especially difficult day.  I am thankful that the people in my life are receptive to the prompts that God gives to act in my life and in the lives of others, and I'm thankful that he is all-powerful and cares so much about the details of "me".

This all made me think about a story that my dear friend Mollie told me last year...which I love retelling, because I think although it sounds unbelievable, it is a sweet reminder that God is ever present and hears our prayers.  Mollie's dad died two years ago when his car was tragically hit by a drunk driver.  So, one weekend, Mollie was driving down the Tri Cities to visit a friend who lives there.  She was nearing her final destination when something went awry with her car and she was stranded on the side of the road.  She tried calling ahead to her friend in the Tri Cities and he wasn't picking up his phone.  She then tried calling another friend just for some emotional support as panic was starting to set in.  He also didn't pick up his phone.  At this point, she was alone on the side of the road with a broken down car and no one to help her.  She said that she remembers stopping and actually saying "God, I just wish that my Dad were here...he would know what to do".  Such a real moment in a girl's life...Dad is always the person that you call when something goes crazy with your car...it is a given.  At this point, her friend she was heading to visit called back and got directions as to where she was stuck and started to put a plan into motion to come pick her up.  In the process of this conversation, she heard her call waiting beeping on the other line.  Figuring it was the other friend she had called as a last ditch effort, she ignored it...help was already on its way.  She said she didn't check her phone again until later.

When she was scanning through missed calls later, she came across one that was completely explainable, and the reason I have a story to tell.  During her call with Justin, the phone call she had ignored had come up on her caller ID as "Dad's cell".  Now, further background information....Mollie's dad had died in July of 2009, and this was many months after that.  Far enough past the accident that his cell phone had been turned off.  There was no logical explanation as to why her Dad's number would have popped up on her phone....and I remember going through this reaction of disbelief and struggling to understand this when I first heard this story.  It is something out of the movies, but I believe it happened and I believe there is no explanation other than the fact that God heard Mollie's prayer and decided to respond in a tangible way.  To show her she wasn't alone ever in His midst and to remind her that her Dad is never as far away as he feels.  Mollie called the number back....afraid of what she might find, but it was disconnected.  We talked a lot about what would have happened if she hadn't ignored the caller ID and had looked at the phone while it was still beeping, but ultimately decided that God must have known exactly what she would do and that it wouldn't have happened if that had been the case.

I can't tell how powerfully this story changed my view of how personal God is.  When I saw that name on Mollie's phone, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and honestly it challenged a lot of what I believed of God.  I have always been really leary of really visual signs that God is present....miraculous signs I guess.  I know Jesus performed miracles, but I know a lot of people over the ages have taken non-miraculous happenings and tried to pass them off as something more.  I guess I had dismissed the chance that something tangible like that could present itself in this day and age....and the whole thing really freaked me out for a while.  It was such a supernatural experience and honestly is way past my understanding, but I know God was responsible for it.  No doubt in my mind.  You can't dismiss something like that as easily as you can dismiss other ways that he shows his love to us on a daily basis....the little ways.

I don't know....I can't say why I was reminded of that or why it felt like the perfect thing to write for tonight, but it did.  Hopefully someone gains encouragement from it or at least spends some time thinking about it!  :)

Much love!