Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
The Sunday morning the derecho hit our neighborhood, I had spent the early hour on my front brick patio, which is surrounded by trees and bushes providing a cozy, sheltered corner where the birds and I find happy peace. I also have a fountain that bubbles spasmodically when it feels like it and during this Midwestern drought, I try to keep it filled and working so the birds and the bees can drink (or suck in the case of bees).
After church I looked at the blackening sky, abandoned my plans to roam around a Whole Foods market while David was in a luncheon missional church commission meeting. Oh no, I thought. I left my journal out on the garden bench. So I hurried home. This would be the second prayer journal I had lost in two months. The first one dated from January 1, 2012 to April 1 had been left in the pocket of the British American flight we took from Chicago to London in the first leg of our trip to Kenya.
By the time I had driven into the storm with its black, black skies and mounting winds I wasn’t worried about my journal at all. I was worried about the condition of our home.
In 15 minutes of passing through, the derecho did enormous damage to all the surrounding towns in the western suburbs; trees were down all over. By the time I reached home, the storm was gone, the winds had died and the sun was out. The damage, however, was left behind. The sun umbrella was shattered; I couldn’t walk in the back yard. I could only park on the garage side of our driveway. Even now, two and a half weeks out, trees are leaning precariously, two fell a week after the storm had passed and we are expecting to loose some more.
Sure enough, my prayer journal had been blown against the porch at the front of the house. Its pages were limp and sagging, the ink blurred. Yet there were still good pages, unfilled, since I had only been recording my prayers in this replacement spiral-bound notebook since May. I’ll just keep it and use it when it’s all dried out, I thought, and spread the journal open as much as possible out of harm’s way in the garage. It would remind me each time I used it not to forget that storms always come into our lives when we least expect them and that we should always be ready to face life’s imminent disasters.
A week later, I examined the now-dry journal; many pages were crumpled and dog-eared, but a friend took the journal from my hands. We set up the ironing board and plugged in the iron. She carefully and patiently ironed the pages straight for me so I could use the notebook through the months ahead. God’s work in our life goes on even when interruptions and disruptions tear through and soak our plans. I don’t want to miss a day of writing them all down.
I spy God!
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.
Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.