The Small Things
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NIV).
“I really want this Daddy. I want this really bad.” My daughter, Emma, said through nervous tears as we drove home, the reflection of car lights on the wet road making it difficult to see that dark evening. I held Emma’s hand and replied, “I know you do honey…I know you do. How about we pray and share your heart with God?”
“Yes, could we?” Emma responded. For the next few moments we prayed and told God how much Emma really wanted to make the girls’ varsity basketball team. We shared how hard Emma tried and even though the first practice went really well, Emma didn’t feel so confident about the second one. We then ended the prayer saying, “Prepare our hearts for whatever is decided. We have told you our desire but we trust in your will either way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
My father’s heart felt that prayer for my daughter. Boy, did I feel it. Emma never asks for anything. For Christmas and birthdays, it’s honestly really difficult to think of gifts she would want. She has always been that way ever since she was a little girl. “What do you want, Emma?” We’d ask. “Nothing really. I have everything I need,” she would say. I have never met a more content person.
But this was something she really wanted, deeply, and so we went to our Heavenly Father and asked, remembering that he likes to give good gifts (Luke 11:13). We went to bed that night not knowing what the next day would hold. She would find out if she made the team or not. As I fell asleep, I was thinking of all the comforting words I could say and the comfort food I could make in case she didn’t make it.
Michele took her to school the next morning, and as I was getting ready for work, a text came through on my phone. It was from Emma: “LOOK!” There was a picture. “Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team” it said at the top of a list of names on a white sheet of paper. I scrolled down through the names in alphabetical order and there, ninth-name from the top, I saw it! “Emma.”
“I MADE IT! I WAS CRYING! I’M SO HAPPY!”
I may or may not have had tears of my own (okay, I did) as I read those words and thought of how delighted my daughter must have felt. And then I thought of how good our God is. I broke out in praise, worship, and thanksgiving!
You see, just like everyone else, I love the big answers to prayer and the big miracles. But it’s precious moments like this (that may seem small to others but are a big deal to us) that God reminds us of how intimately he cares about us and cares about the things we care about. It’s moments like this that Adonai El Roi (the God Who Sees) reminds us that he sees each one of us and knows. That he’s more than powerful…he’s compassionately loving just like a nurturing parent but more so. That the words of the psalmist are true: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” (Psalm 139:1).
As we go into Thanksgiving week, it is common for us to recall all of the things we are grateful for…the ways Jehovah Jireh (the God Who Provides) has blessed us. We may think of the big things and even the big miracles we have seen. And we should! But let’s also take some time to reflect on all those caring and intimate ways God has shown us that he has searched us and knows what we care about. Maybe it’s that time you were having a bad day and out of the blue someone sent you a card in the mail or there was a rainbow in the sky. Or what about that time the perfect song came on the radio or you prayed a simple prayer for something that would bring you joy and God answered.
These moments are whispers from heaven or “God-winks” (as I remember Sue Yonosko once calling them) where God pauses and says, “I love YOU.” Let’s not forget those moments. Those moments are moments to be grateful for! Amen?
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NIV).
“I really want this Daddy. I want this really bad.” My daughter, Emma, said through nervous tears as we drove home, the reflection of car lights on the wet road making it difficult to see that dark evening. I held Emma’s hand and replied, “I know you do honey…I know you do. How about we pray and share your heart with God?”
“Yes, could we?” Emma responded. For the next few moments we prayed and told God how much Emma really wanted to make the girls’ varsity basketball team. We shared how hard Emma tried and even though the first practice went really well, Emma didn’t feel so confident about the second one. We then ended the prayer saying, “Prepare our hearts for whatever is decided. We have told you our desire but we trust in your will either way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
My father’s heart felt that prayer for my daughter. Boy, did I feel it. Emma never asks for anything. For Christmas and birthdays, it’s honestly really difficult to think of gifts she would want. She has always been that way ever since she was a little girl. “What do you want, Emma?” We’d ask. “Nothing really. I have everything I need,” she would say. I have never met a more content person.
But this was something she really wanted, deeply, and so we went to our Heavenly Father and asked, remembering that he likes to give good gifts (Luke 11:13). We went to bed that night not knowing what the next day would hold. She would find out if she made the team or not. As I fell asleep, I was thinking of all the comforting words I could say and the comfort food I could make in case she didn’t make it.
Michele took her to school the next morning, and as I was getting ready for work, a text came through on my phone. It was from Emma: “LOOK!” There was a picture. “Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team” it said at the top of a list of names on a white sheet of paper. I scrolled down through the names in alphabetical order and there, ninth-name from the top, I saw it! “Emma.”
“I MADE IT! I WAS CRYING! I’M SO HAPPY!”
I may or may not have had tears of my own (okay, I did) as I read those words and thought of how delighted my daughter must have felt. And then I thought of how good our God is. I broke out in praise, worship, and thanksgiving!
You see, just like everyone else, I love the big answers to prayer and the big miracles. But it’s precious moments like this (that may seem small to others but are a big deal to us) that God reminds us of how intimately he cares about us and cares about the things we care about. It’s moments like this that Adonai El Roi (the God Who Sees) reminds us that he sees each one of us and knows. That he’s more than powerful…he’s compassionately loving just like a nurturing parent but more so. That the words of the psalmist are true: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me” (Psalm 139:1).
As we go into Thanksgiving week, it is common for us to recall all of the things we are grateful for…the ways Jehovah Jireh (the God Who Provides) has blessed us. We may think of the big things and even the big miracles we have seen. And we should! But let’s also take some time to reflect on all those caring and intimate ways God has shown us that he has searched us and knows what we care about. Maybe it’s that time you were having a bad day and out of the blue someone sent you a card in the mail or there was a rainbow in the sky. Or what about that time the perfect song came on the radio or you prayed a simple prayer for something that would bring you joy and God answered.
These moments are whispers from heaven or “God-winks” (as I remember Sue Yonosko once calling them) where God pauses and says, “I love YOU.” Let’s not forget those moments. Those moments are moments to be grateful for! Amen?