Be on the Lookout

By:  Kim Divelbiss

Sometimes God sends encouragement in the oddest ways.  I woke up at my usual hour of the chickens this morning to a dishwasher with lights blinking and not in the “hey, your dishes are clean” way.  Nope, it was the “don’t pretend you haven’t noticed that I’m not drying your dishes lately” blinking.  Well, great!  The busiest month in the history of the world with school wrapping up, graduations, and summer at my back door and a household appliance goes out?

As I’m melting down, I pour a cup of much needed coffee.  Hey, there is something to smile about I tell myself…the coffee pot is working.  I continue with my morning chores of caring for the three four legged family members that run this house!  The bulldog is crying, seriously it is the craziest noise I think I’ve ever heard, because his wait for his morning routine is delayed.  There is a system you see and the system at the present time involves medication doses for our senior dog.  Sometimes God’s encouragement is medicine to allow your old friend one more day of comfortable living.

With dog care complete I sit down to enjoy my coffee.  On my phone I search in stock dishwashers at Lowe’s.  By 9:30 my wonderful husband has picked up a new one and my plumber is at work. Sometimes God’s encouragement is a problem solved.

A bit later in the day I’m in the car with my daughter and I glance over at her legs in shorts, the scars on her thighs are a reminder of her journey of with self-harm.  Today there are no scabs, just old scars.  Sometimes God’s encouragement is the absence of fresh wounds.

Tonight I’ll miss a school concert for my son because I have a work commitment.  Is my kiddo sad?  Nope.  His answer is “Mom, I wish I could skip it too.  But, once it is over, Dad will let me pick where we eat dinner.”  Sometimes God sends encouragement through a spouse who shares the responsibility of kids and schedules.

Life is a juggling act.  Sometimes it is hard, really hard.  Sometimes it is amazing and wonderful and all things good.  Sometimes, as my Granny always said, “life gets tedious”.  Hard, amazing, or tedious, the presence of Christ remains.  Look for His encouragement even in the strangest places.

“I keep my eyes always on the Lord.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8

Kim Divelbiss is minister to children and families and day school director at NorthHaven Church in Norman, Oklahoma. Her writings can also be found on her blog, From Hope to Heaven.