wonder
When my sister and I decided to each pick a "word of the year" we had no idea what we were getting into. But we should have known better, because on day one neither of us picked our words. They were definitely God-chosen.
And God continues to show up, every day, on my journey to "embrace" 2013. Some days I have to look harder than others. But other days He just lays it out for me. Take this week for example.
On Monday night, after an evening of Dancing with the Stars and a long conversation with my sis about how to solve the world's problems, I was scraping the ice off my windshield while my car warmed up. My radio was tuned to a station I have lots of God-moments with, and there must have been a good song on when I pulled in earlier in the day because the volume was noticeable. When the windshield was clear I slid into the driver's seat and was told by the DJ: "You have to embrace brokenness before you can embrace healing." It was such a visceral experience that I had to look in the backseat to see if Jesus was there instead of on the radio.
Eight hours later, while scrolling through Facebook, I came to this:
A few hours after that, my dad and I were going through old files to look for a needle (tax form) in a haystack (grandpa's filing cabinet) when I came across my grandmother's obituary. She died in 1999. The bulk of the memorial was about her life before she joined mine... studying in Lebanon and Peru before getting her master's at Syracuse University; teaching at Cortland State in New York for 26 years; writing daily letters to her six brothers and sisters. When she was 54 years old she married my grandpa and moved to the farm where I live now. How did she handle the life change? "Audrey embraced her new found family."
Yet that same day, as I was reading the final chapter of Matthew in which the women discover Jesus is not in the tomb, I came to these words: "The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them... They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him."
Their wonder, which led them to embrace Jesus, is exactly how God is speaking into my life today.
He amazes me every day, leaving me wonderstruck that He would care so much about me as to leave the tomb in order to walk with me. And it makes me want to embrace Him, to know Him more, better, deeper, and to share that with others.
EMBRACE WONDER.
Even on days I have to look harder, He never fails to show up.
Finding wonder in the ordinary, the extraordinary, the pain, and the triumph with Margaret Feinberg in her latest book Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God.
And God continues to show up, every day, on my journey to "embrace" 2013. Some days I have to look harder than others. But other days He just lays it out for me. Take this week for example.
On Monday night, after an evening of Dancing with the Stars and a long conversation with my sis about how to solve the world's problems, I was scraping the ice off my windshield while my car warmed up. My radio was tuned to a station I have lots of God-moments with, and there must have been a good song on when I pulled in earlier in the day because the volume was noticeable. When the windshield was clear I slid into the driver's seat and was told by the DJ: "You have to embrace brokenness before you can embrace healing." It was such a visceral experience that I had to look in the backseat to see if Jesus was there instead of on the radio.
Eight hours later, while scrolling through Facebook, I came to this:
A few hours after that, my dad and I were going through old files to look for a needle (tax form) in a haystack (grandpa's filing cabinet) when I came across my grandmother's obituary. She died in 1999. The bulk of the memorial was about her life before she joined mine... studying in Lebanon and Peru before getting her master's at Syracuse University; teaching at Cortland State in New York for 26 years; writing daily letters to her six brothers and sisters. When she was 54 years old she married my grandpa and moved to the farm where I live now. How did she handle the life change? "Audrey embraced her new found family."
Yet that same day, as I was reading the final chapter of Matthew in which the women discover Jesus is not in the tomb, I came to these words: "The women, deep in wonder and full of joy, lost no time in leaving the tomb. They ran to tell the disciples. Then Jesus met them... They fell to their knees, embraced his feet, and worshiped him."
Their wonder, which led them to embrace Jesus, is exactly how God is speaking into my life today.
He amazes me every day, leaving me wonderstruck that He would care so much about me as to leave the tomb in order to walk with me. And it makes me want to embrace Him, to know Him more, better, deeper, and to share that with others.
EMBRACE WONDER.
Even on days I have to look harder, He never fails to show up.
Finding wonder in the ordinary, the extraordinary, the pain, and the triumph with Margaret Feinberg in her latest book Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God.
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