How We Can Pay Attention to God's Faithfulness

How we can pay attention to God's faithfulness
Yesterday, Trent was telling me how sad he was because he missed his friends in Wenatchee. I pointed out that he had a lot of friends at school, but he said that none of them were friends that he “could just call up”. My heart ached for him, so I prayed a little prayer. One hour later, there was a knock on the door, and an invitation for a play date was extended by one of our neighbors. Today, he was cruising around the neighborhood with these two sweet boys while I had a cup of coffee and a chat with their grandma.
— Thursday, March 4, 2010

This little snippet of a story is something I wrote when my son was six.  He’s almost twelve now.  The title was answered prayers- and the story above, was one of many.  

I have hundreds of these types of stories, all reminding me of God’s faithfulness.  They’re tucked away in random places- blog posts, notebooks, Word files, etc.  I’m not great at organizing them.  I write them and forget about them- but sometimes they come back to me, when I most need them- like today. 

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Finding this particular story, about an answered prayer, was an answer to prayer in itself, a long forgotten prayer.  The story about my son was hidden away on a file on my computer; one I thought I had lost.  Two years ago, I deleted the personal blog I had kept for six years, but first I copied the best blog posts into a Word file.  These were all the stories I had written about my kids.   A computer crash happened shortly thereafter.  Most of our files were recovered, but I never could find the blog back-up file.   I felt so sick about it that, after I prayed, I just tried to put it out of my mind.  I wouldn’t even talk about it.  I had a couple of printed books, that contained a few of the stories- but that was all.   

The reason it seemed so significant that I would find it today?  There seemed to be an avalanche of tech related stresses that I was feeling buried under this morning.  I was beyond frustrated.  Then I sat down to write, looking at my blog planner to see what I had planned for today.  It said, write a story about God’s faithfulness.  That’s when I may have huffed a bit. 

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Then I remembered a half written story that I had somewhere in my computer files, that I thought I’d see if I could finish and use.  I never did find it.  But in the process of looking, I opened a file called “Donkey.”   This was the long lost blog back-up file!  Why was it called, Donkey?  I don’t know, other than Donkey is the name of my son’s lovey. 

This unexpected find, of something I treasured, felt like a love note from God.  The previous stresses of the morning melted away in comparison to the joy I felt in finding this particular file.  The tech issues that I was stressing over are still unresolved, as of now, but I’m no longer worried.  I know that God is in control, that he is faithful in all things. I can bring my requests, no matter how small, to him.  He reminded me of this today through an story about my son. 

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Here’s why I’m telling you this story:  We forget so easily.  Write down your prayers. Write about your answered prayers.  Write your stories.  Even if nobody else ever reads them- they’re valuable.  They ‘re a reminder of God’s faithfulness.

God is faithful.  Always.  Most of the time, it’s subtle.  We can miss it if we’re not paying attention.  This is why writing is such a gift.  It forces us to pay attention.  

Here’s an update on the story I shared at the beginning, about my son and the answered prayer for friends…. those two little boys that he met that day- they are his best friends today.  Their family....we count among our closest friends.  They truly have been a blessing to my family.

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Psalms 36:5

I don’t know what might be causing you to feel worried or stressed today, but may I suggest, if that is how you’re feeling, take your worries to God.  Pray about them.   Then, see if you can remember some stories of God’s faithfulness from your past- and be encouraged

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Psalms 36:5

faith, grace, prayer, trustDawn Klinge