Use me, show me, I want MORE!

Today is just one of those reflective moments where I'm standing in awe of God. He is so amazing, and cool, and real, and close, and OBVIOUS!

I love belonging to a God who can take tragedy, heartache, and disappointment, and use it to edify, uplift, and encourage us. My friend Emily has a cousin that has had difficult pregnancies over and over. She suffered difficult miscarriages, and then I knew of her and began praying for her during her pregnancy with her daughter Grace two years ago that was burdened by difficulty, and now pregnant with twins, one lost fluid and flew home to be with Jesus. And can I say I love blogging. I logged onto her blog to keep up with the latest details as she's laid up in a hospital on absolute bedrest, and God moved in me. Immediately I was told to create a blog header for her, which I did with absolute joy. That's what talent is given to us for people, to uplift and edify others. But it wasn't a one way street. Laurie's strength and wisdom as she's going through this uplifts and edify's me. God is so obviously near to her right now and it's pouring out in her words and views. That encourages us and edify's us. Should you or I ever fear walking through a valley such that Laurie's walking through, we should have no doubt that He will be right there with us, filling us with extra Grace, and helping us understand and see things through His eyes. Here's a link to her blog News From the Nest and a picture of the header God gaver her through me.

So, you know how many of us have our thing, the way God shows us through Creation that He's there for us. For some it's seeing feathers lying in critical spots, for Brian and Amy it's the number 55, etc. All day yesterday outside my office window as I was working on this header I heard the loudest baby birds you've ever heard! What's weird is in all the years we've lived in this house we've never had birds close, I think the trees were too small to provide safety for nests. Anyway, yesterday, Jason and I both separately noticed the loud chirping coming from a nest outside our window. And it didn't stop all day as I worked, and when I got out of bed at 1 in the morning with insomina and came down here to work more, they started up chirping again as soon as I was in the hallway! This morning as I sat down it was so quiet, and as soon as I opened an email from Laurie they started chirping again. So of course I mentioned this to Laurie, and turns out birds are her thing, the way God lets her know He's near. I know that God put them near me, so that I could tell her, so that in her isolated hospital room, she could "hear" them and know He's watching over her nest. God is so cool. That's why we live in relationship, with Him and with others. We're all part of the same Spirit, meant to live to build each other up and bring and receive the gifts of the Spirit to each other.

The more we acknowledge God in our lives, the more we see. The more we ask, the more He gives. I want to notice it all, to be filled with joy each time I notice a bird and my Spirit lifts letting me know, it's not just a random bird chirping, God ordained my tree to grow and for the first nest built in it to burst forth with life the day it would lift the spirit of someone far away in a hospital bed.

The message puts it this way in Matthew 6

"Look at the birds, free and unfettered, careless in the care of God, if He tends to all of these things you don't even see, how much more will He take care of you, for you are far more valuable to Him than birds."

Careless in the Care of God, that's how I want to live!