Watching God Move Extraordinarily
Pastor Patrick Badstibner is founder of World Prayr (on Twitter). Pat has been providing us with a monthly blog post, but I’m pleased to be able to present this blog post, the second in a series of four weekly posts by Pat, to our Energion Publications family.
Check the World Prayr organization and the World Prayr devotional blog as well. You’ll find a dynamic and growing group of Christians who are practicing the second great command, to love their neighbors as themselves, and thereby practicing the first command as well.
Recently I have seen a rash of articles on encouraging believers to not just see God in the extraordinary but remembering that he also works in the ordinary. I do not struggle with this issue, however. Being reformed in theology means rather a hope and a prayer in the belief of the sovereignty of God. That leads one to believe and see God continuously in the ordinary.
Who Planned
Believing in the sovereignty of God means I believe that God is in everything. There is no coincidence, no fate upon which he did not plan it or allow it to happen. For it to be otherwise would seem to make such verses as the following null and void.
So If God is not in every detail, every second, every beat of time could we even really begin to believe in or place hope in the message or truth of Romans 8:28. So it is not the ordinary I personally struggle to see God in, but rather the extraordinary.
A Skype Provision.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Skype it is an online video sharing service. It is how most of World Prayr leadership communicates with one another. Recently God used Skype in an extraordinarily way to honor his message of truth found in Psalms 103:5 in my life. The last three weeks of August, in fact the whole month, was a little emotionally wearying to say the least. At a time that the weight had gotten me down, God heard me cry. On Tuesday of last week after sending out a painful email I stared out the window asking God to lift my spirits to refresh my youth so to speak.
A Visit From @leaderlifter
Just, the previous evening as I sat reflecting on the past month’s events; I felt the need to reach out to Lon Alderman a member of our senior team whose ministry happens to be lifting the arms of leaders. After staring out the window for a while; I returned to my laptop screen upon which I noticed my Skype was lit up signifying I had a message the message read
“Just wanted to stop by, drop you a note of encouragement. Thank you for your leadership in World Prayr and to let you know I am Praying for you.” – Lon Alderman
This was a complete surprise to my knowledge Lon had never left me a message like this on Skype and Lon had just been on my mind the previous evening. Lon and I proceeded to have a nice chat. God had also let me know how much he loved and cared about me to provide this provision.
Country Roads Take Me Home.
In the seventies John Denver did a song titled Country Roads in which he describes and cries out to the roads of the Blue Ridge Mountains to take him home. This weekend I took a drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains with my wife, and mother on some of those wonderful country roads, as my mom wanted to revisit her dream home that my dad and her had built, then sold.
John’s Creek Churches
The problem with this drive is we really had no idea how to actually get to the home. We knew a general area but how to get to a specific location, Well! However my mom remembered people’s names. If you know anything about the Blue Ridge and the folk that live there knowing that can sometimes be enough. It was enough to get us going in the right direction and the general area yet we still lacked specifics.
As a young man at the age of fourteen I had been impressed by the fact that there was a creek near their home and on each side of the creek there was a church: John’s Baptist and John’s Methodist. Now thirty six years later that impression would come back to memory.
Nicholson Cove
Well after discovering the specific area we still could not find the specific street. So after a few more bends, a winding road, wrong turns along Caney Fork Rd. (which is shown in the enclosed picture) and asking where Ben Nicholson’s home is; we were now on the right road. (It was also neat to show my mother this link of the paintings of the couple she had once been neighbors with.) The entrance to the road after all really was guarded by John’s Creek and John’s Methodist Churches. Finally on Nicholson’s Cove Road we find our answer.
Twenty-Year Reunion.
We managed to stop someone on the road, and they were able to direct my mother to a name and wonderful woman my mother had not seen in twenty years plus. As the two of them were re-united, I could see the blessing it was to my mother, though we were unable to get up to their actual house due to the steep loose gravel road that lead to the actual house. Getting to the area seeing the delight in my mother over the reunion brought much refreshment to my own spirit.
Thus in one week God had intervened through a technological provision and the rekindling of an impressible memory on a young fourteen year old. In doing so he had given me two extraordinary moments to lift my spirits. At the same time reminding me of a very important truth,
Yes, Pat God Still Does Act Extraordinarily
That while learning to look for God in the ordinary must we also never forget that he does extraordinarily After all he is still the same God who parted the Red Sea, who came through a virgin, who fed the 5000, walked on water, and healed the deaf and blind.
He is still the same God who finds his delight in you and longs to be gracious to you.
Now it’s your turn can you recall really extraordinarily moments when God refreshed your spirit.
