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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Several years back I learned that I had developed a hiatal hernia, a condition in the digestive system where a hernia balloons out of the stomach wall. This often creates discomfort for me, but I have learned that I can control the situation without medicine if I am careful with what I eat.

• No big meals in the evening unless I’ve eaten almost nothing else during the day.

• Small portions.

• Don’t sit too much in any position that cramps the stomach (economy seating in airplanes are the worst; I disembark slightly crippled and very uncomfortable).

• Not too much bread. Not too much meat.

• Small portions (oh, I said that already, didn’t I?)

• Plenty of fresh food—fruits and vegetables.

This diet is actually a lot like the one recommended by Michael Pollan in his little booklet Food Rules, where he maintains that there are basically three rules that comprise healthy eating: Eat food (and by this simple command he means real food, not over-processed, highly manufactured pretend food). Not too much. Mostly plants.

When I follow the rules, I feel less discomfort, forget that I have a hiatal hernia, and when I forget and eat badly, I suffer. No one else is responsible for my discomfort. This is totally under my control. I just have to learn to be intentional about how I eat.

The same truth exists for all of life. There are certain rules we must follow if we want to be healthy. Our bodies are strongest and function best when we get enough exercise every week. Human relationships are kept strong when we forgive and accept one another. Love for ourselves, for one another, for the world around us and for the God who made it all covers a multitude of sins.

When we disobey the established wisdom of the ages and the discoveries of modern science that also add to our body of accumulated knowledge, well, then we suffer. And no one else is responsible for our suffering but ourselves. Others can bring us pain—to be sure, this is true, but it is how we choose to respond, whether we will turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, establish proper boundaries, remove ourselves from toxic situations that determine whether the suffering they have brought into our lives will endure or heal.

There are also rules for finding God in our everyday world. We must seek Him, pay attention, put ourselves into quiet, spend time in His written Word, learn from spiritual masters. Keeping a record of His daily intervention helps us to remember. Telling others what delightful intervention he brought into our life is a way of concretizing the divine event.

When people say to me, “God doesn’t answer my prayers. He’s not there,” I often ask, “And how much do you pray? Have you listened to what He has said after you have pleaded with Him to help you? Is your life honoring to Him in other ways—do you seek to live a life of devotion?” In other words, have you been following the rules that exist to create a healthy spiritual life?

This hiatal hernia is forcing me to keep to the rules of healthy eating. Really good things can come of following the rules.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-120)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
My son, Jeremy, and my daughter-in-law, Angela, gave me a tango lesson for my 69th birthday. “Mom,” he informed me, “Angela and I went to a tango class last week. There’s a new studio in town right across from the library. Why don’t you come with me and see if you like it? That will be your birthday gift.”

Well, how could I refuse? Though I am rhythmically challenged, my rule of thumb is: If your adult kids invite you to go anywhere, do everything you can to fit it into the schedule.

So last Monday night Jeremy and I parked in front of La Yunta Milonga (The Tango Argentina Club) in downtown West Chicago, Illinois on West Washington St. The irony of all this is that our town is more than 60% Hispanic and tango is not really a Mexican cultural dance. The core of our community is really working-class. Somehow, a Tango Argentina Club didn’t quite fit the taquerias and Mexican bakeries that fill our town. My son and his wife can dance salsa, meringue, and swing, so why not tango. This Monday night was for “Guided Practice,” explains the little card I was handed that reads, “La Yunta Milonga: a beautiful place for beautiful people.” We would learn to dance the tango with the owners Ruben (from Argentina) and Maria (from France) showing us the dancing ropes.

Jeremy, who was voted the best dancer in his high-school class, was as much a novice as I. So just submitting to the fact that I was going to be awful, I attempted to take their guidance to heart. Ruben taught us in Spanish with his wife translating into English. (Later, Jeremy, who teaches Spanish at Wheaton College, informed me that she, in her delightful way, basically said what she wanted to say and didn’t give a literal translation of her husband’s instructions. I did notice that he said “bueno” whenever she finished, so I think there was kind of a collaboration of agreement between the two.)

In my first tango lesson I learned: The man must lead; you brush your thighs as you walk; you back up (for the woman) in a straight line; that you must relax; you must keep your right elbow bent stiffly so your partner can guide you; and it will take quite a few walking lessons for me to get the hang of it.

At 8 o’clock, the lights were lowered, the music was turned on, several other people arrived for the dancing hour and Maria assigned me to a gentleman with the words, “She is just learning tango.” So this stranger and I began moving around the floor. Amazingly, I found myself in step, making turns, crossing my ankles to twist forward, twist back—all under his guidance. When I made a misstep and apologized, I said, “I’m thinking too much. I need just to relax and move.”

“Don’t apologize,” the man said, who I was realizing was an excellent dancer. “It is up to me to get you where I want you to go.”

Because I am a writer, one of the things I have learned to do is live life metaphorically. A metaphor is an application of a word or figure of speech to a concept it does not literally denote in order to suggest comparison to another object or concept. Living life metaphorically means that I attempt to draw out meaning beneath or beside the meaning.

A good dancing partner is an excellent illustration of what it is like to step in time to the rhythm of life with God, whose responsibility is to get us where it is He wants us to go. Now, we have the choice as humans, to refuse to dance altogether, if we like. We can “sit this one out” and we can refuse to cooperate by barn-dancing when we should be attempting to tango. There are rules we must follow if we are going to look good and get the best benefit of the guided practice. We must walk backward in a straight line; we must keep our elbow bent firmly so our Partner can guide us. But basically, the rhythm and beauty and timing of our dancing activity is a matter of following the Divine Dancing Partner.

I was amazed at the Tango Argentina Club on Monday night last (a 69th-birthday gift) by how beautifully I performed when I danced with someone who knew what he was doing. Perhaps we all should learn to pray, Lord, what kind of dance is it that You want me to dance today? And then we should learn to follow His lead.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-119)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
One of the joys of my life is bartering competencies. A friend gives me a couple hours of help with the delayed projects in my life, and I gladly exchange that I have to give—a hard earned spiritual wisdom that has developed through fifty-some years of ministry that has stimulated an intentional growth walk with the Lord.

Since the place I feel neglect the most in my life is in the area of material repair, I am always deeply touched to have anyone lend me a hand working my way through the pile of “to-do’s”—those projects that seem to elude me and grow in the night, or so it seems.

So before Christmas, my friend stitched up fabric I purchased on sale a couple summers back for the table in the basement over which I tossed that hand-embroidered cloth my Yugoslavian friend gave me, saying, “This is very old.” Both the antique cloth and the contrasting check-skirt looked wonderful for a holiday table.

In return, my helping friend choose books from my spiritual growth library, which I need to make sure we discuss when she is done and brings them back.

This Christmas, the grandchildren filled each others’ stockings. I pulled three large stockings we had never used out of the storage box; they were great for three of the five children (stocking stuffers seem to grow bigger by the year), but I decided we needed two more oversize stockings for the coming Christmas season of 2012. A drawer in the guest bedroom holds fabric I’ve purchased just because I like it and can’t resist the bargain table. One pattern in particular felt like a good contrast to the three I had purchased. My friend took that to make us two more large Christmas stockings, and I guided her to the section on spiritual direction in my library where she could seek some answers to questions she raised on that topic.

Now that I think about it, I am certain that I am receiving more in this barter than I am giving and need to make sure that this exchange of competencies is even, that our spiritual dialogue is as valuable to my friend as her practical kindnesses are to me.

However, this all makes me think that much of life is a matter of giving to one another out of our strengths and receiving from one another for our weaknesses. Every local church needs to set up an exchange where the body can barter competencies—except with God. His strength is always there for us. As far as bartering competencies is concerned, with God it is always a matter of us being on the receiving end.

“O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
My refuge in the day of trouble,
To thee shall the nations come
From the ends of the earth…” (Jeremiah 16:19)

And in this exchange of our weakness for His strength, we become acquainted with His mercy. “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-118)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Last week, I spent my birthday with our Phoenix family. Our eldest son, Randall, his wife Carmel and their two sons, Landis age 16 and Nathanael age 15, have lived away from the Chicago area long enough for the boys not to remember what it was like living through a Midwestern season of snow. They do remember, however, and love to reiterate all the memories they have of spending time with my husband and myself, with Papa and Nina.

It surprises me a little—though I don’t know why it should—how many of our conversations begin with the question, “Nina, do you remember when we…?” Actually, this has been one of our major goals. We have sought to build a rich memory infrastructure for the architecture that is becoming their lives.

So we talk about the time in Boston when Pap got navigating a roundabout and the GPS kept telling him to turn just a fraction later than he needed the information: “Wrong turn. Recalibrating.” We drove round and round about seven times with Papa getting more frustrated and the two grandkids on that trip giggling in the back seat.

We’ve hauled them up to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, parceled them out on cruises to pick up the extra-guest fee—$99 per person if they will sleep in your stateroom—two grandkids on the Alaska cruise, two more on the Maritime Provinces cruise. We took a quick, quick tour through the Niagara Falls area, did a short vacation to Branson (and endured one of those awful timeshare sales lectures), stayed at my sister’s cabin in North Carolina for gem-mining, trout fishing, and whitewater rafting.

We replace the memory stones that have fallen (No, no, no. That was in Paris and the lady’s name was…). What one forgets (usually me being the one), the other remembers.

This little exercise, which happens whenever we have time to be together, reminds me of how frequently God tells his people to remember. “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.” Piles of stones were stacked in the wilderness. Solemn assemblies commemorated events. A yearly cycle of festivals ensured that special days and remarkable divine interventions were enthroned in the memory of the Hebrew people. “You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.” Exodus 12:14.

God, in case some of you don’t know, is a good-memory-maker. Like my grandsons, He says to me over and over, Karen, do you remember when I made you laugh, when you had just enough money to meet the payment deadline, the day I protected or loved or enfolded you? Of course, my human aptitude for forgetting (how is your aptitude for forgetting?) is more the default mode than the one for remembering and rejoicing. As an aid, some 40 years ago, I began to keep a record of all the times God has intervened for the good in my life.

I make a habit of going over those notebooks, looking back through the pages and the years and saying, “God, do You remember when we…” And consequently, though inclined to forget, because of this tall, tall stack of journals, I too remember.

“Yes, I remember when…”

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-117)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
I snapped up a plastic refrigerator sack of little toy animals for my grandson Neeham (Nehemiah), who is two years old. This $3.75 was one of my best purchases because Neeham invariably digs into the bag and comes us with a clutch of animals to play with and to carry around wherever he goes in our house.

Though the fistful of toys may be Neehan’s version of a security blanket, it does present some problems:

First, he cannot pick up anything else, not even more dinosaurs, snakes, fish or crabs (this is the sea-animal bag). If he tries, some inevitably drop to the floor though he attempts to retrieve them (leaving another turtle that doesn’t quite make it). This is a source of frustration to Neeham, who sometimes resorts to (dare I name it?) temper tantrums.

Next, it is impossible to pull a coat over Neeham’s full and clenched fist. We attempt to pry the little fingers open, explaining that we are just putting his coat on and that he can have the toys back. “No,” he protests. “Mine!” In fact, I am reminded by this repeated drama by our front door that the wearing of winter coats is more of an adult’s concern than it is a two-year-old’s.

Last, this greedy security habit of my grandson’s is fast depleting the plastic bag of water-loving miniatures. Of course, again, this is more my concern than it is Neeham’s. Supply and demand is an adult’s prerogative. Little children don’t worry about what they will play with when the source of toys is gone.

How often God attempts to pray open our clutched fists. He has something richer to give us, something to warm us against the cold, something more exciting to put in our hands to replace the snakes and other creepy-crawly creatures.

Yet, our proprietorship is firmly established. “Mine!” we announce, clutching more tightly and clenching our fists to our chest. But the truth is, we’ve become too old to carry “dinosaurs” in our hands. We need to move beyond the childlike stages of spiritual maturity. Better pay attention to the Grandma at the front door. My lifelong experience in clutching things too tightly is that if we don’t let go of our well-loved playthings when God asks them of us, we may force Him to find a harsher means to convince us that we best let go.

So. What is it you are clutching in your tiny fists? Is God asking you to let go? He needs to pull on that winter coat to protect you from the blows and windstorms of misfortune. He can see into your future and has a reason for asking for your fistful of clutched toys. This secret I have also learned (hold it to your heart): Our Heavenly Grandparent never takes away something from us without replacing it (eventually) with something better.

Pay attention.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-116)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
As is my habit, at the New Year I review the journal I am in working on and the one before it. It is easy to forget one’s life. I made entrances in the columns of the prayers that have been answered, and I enter into that full and replete feeling at the record of God’s interaction in my everyday life.

I came upon this chorus I had copied in case I needed it for my writing. I record it here because it was the prayer for last year and the year before and the year before that. I record it in case you need a prayer for 2012. It is a good prayer.

“We Are Hungry”

Lord, I want more of You.
Living water rain down on me.
Lord, I need more of You.
Living breath of life, come fill me up.

We are hungry, we are hungry,
We are hungry for more of You.
We are thirsty, Oh, Jesus,
We are thirsty for more of You.

Lord, I want more of You.
Holy Spirit, rain down on me.
Lord, I need more of You.
Living breath of life, come fill me up.

We are hungry, we are hungry,
We are hungry for more of You.
We are thirsty, Oh, Jesus,
We are thirsty for more of You.

We lift our holy hands up.
We want to touch You
We lift our vices, higher
And higher and higher to You.

We are hungry, we are hungry,
We are hungry for more of You.
We are thirsty, Oh, Jesus,
We are thirsty for more of You.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-115)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Last week the Chicago area had its first seasonal snowfall. This may be an absolute record in the annals of our particular geographic weather history. The reports on how much snow were variable—some said we had 3-4 inches; some said we had six to eight. After the snowplow cleared our circle driveway at 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning, I shoveled our seven-foot brick-walk that leads from the front door to the gravel drive. According to estimates made from thrusting my red snow shovel into a mound off by the front walk, we had from six to eight inches of snow for the first fall.

The weather here in the greater Chicago area has been, to use the parlance, unseasonably warm. Last year we had a snowfall mid-November, and more and more snowfalls until at least two feet of snow was piled upon itself. The snowplow cleared our driveway seven times last year, and the snow did not melt until April. Two days before our first snowfall, January 12, 2012, the thermometers read 47 degrees in the western suburbs.

So we began preparing ourselves as we Midwesterners are programmed to do with storm warnings. Is there enough provision in the house in case we can’t get to the store for a couple of days? Do we have the fold-up portable shovel in the back of the trunk? Have we made sure our house (driveway really) is on the snow-plowers’ list?

I had a funny phone call: “Paul,” I said to the man who owns the snowplow service up our lane, “the weather has been so good, I neglected to call you and ask you to put us on your list.” “Now, who are you?” he asked. “I’ve just had a hip operation. I’m in the hospital. They replaced my hip.” Nevertheless, he had arranged for a surrogate driver to cover the driveways in our little loop and somehow he did—groggy as he was—get our name on the list. Snowplowing is a serious commitment.

David and I had invited friends to go to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert on the 12th of January, and we made reservations for dinner at the Russian Tea Time restaurant before the eight o’clock performance. This restaurant is just around the corner from Orchestra Hall; on concert nights, it usually empties like clockwork at 7:45. First snow or not, this is an occasion hardy Chicagoans do not cancel simply because weather warnings are being broadcast on radio and on television.

Our only question was: Should we take the Metra into the city, or risk it and drive during the first snowfall, at rush hour? My call was to take the train. David, however, loves that when we drive, we can park in the underground parking, which shoots us up a stairway right in front of the Orchestra Hall doors. Driving means we also don’t have to get to and from the train station, some eight blocks away; nor do we have to wait an hour or so for the next-to-the last commuter train to the western suburbs.

So drive we did, and in driving, we noticed the snowplows already blowing mounds of snow beside driveways and sidewalks. Cautiously, our friend steered his four-wheel-drive SUV through back streets and by ways to quickly hook up to a major artery going into the city. Hm-m-m-m. The streets weren’t so bad—we’re all hardy Midwesterners, you know. Most of us know how to drive cautiously in new-fallen snow. And many workers, at news of snowfall, had left their offices early. The expressways moved fast and we actually arrived at the underground parking with plenty of spots to choose from, close to the Jackson Street exit, and right on the minute to honor our dinner reservation.

Br-r-r-r-r-r. Of course, the temperature had dropped below 20 degrees. We bundled ourselves up against the wet, soft, white snow falling in our hair, laughed about all the little kids out on the streets with their Christmas-gift sleds, noticed a darling young mother shoveling her walk and towing a little toddler stuffed in a snowsuit on a sled behind her. We had a wonderful dinner, shared stories, laughed at our own foibles. The Chicago Symphony sound was lush and wondrous and reached, as usual, parts of the soul in the listener it is hard to explain to people who don’t understand or love classical music.

“First snow,” we said to the volunteers who held the doors for us as we entered and exited the Hall. “Yep!” they said. “We knew it would eventually get here.”

“First snow,” I said to the homeless woman selling Streetwise, the paper they publish that helps to support their needs. “Yes,” she replied. “First snow. Have a good night.”

Instead of turning left out of the parking garage, we turned right, intending to cruise down Michigan Avenue and catch a glimpse of the Christmas lights still in the trees shining through the blanket that now covered the cement flower troughs the city has built in the middle of the Avenue. Snow piled on the bridge spanning the Chicago River, on the ledges of buildings, and spread itself all over the ground.

“Oh,” we all exclaimed. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Yes, it is. Despite the discomforts. Despite the blowing cold. Despite the hazards of slippery, unexpected falls or of car crashes, it is beautiful. Indeed, it is.

Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. I remembered this Scripture from Isaiah 1:18. But even biblically illiterate people see what I see. Ugly holes are covered by the first snow. Bare branches and breaks in the cement are hidden. The world is wound together in a bundling of white.

Though we hasten to home and safety (and to those provisions of food), every single one of us is in a kind of celebratory mood. Everyone sees that the ugliness around is covered, not to be noticed for as long as the snow stays on the ground, on the fences, on the paths in the wintered forests. There is a common metaphor here that reaches into the heart even of the unbeliever, the cynical, the twisted pervert, or the neglectful, inward-obsessed narcissist.

The world is white again. God has breathed His breath to cover us. First snow!

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-114)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Turning 69 today, with a husband who is 75, has forced an unending round of discussions on the aging process. We are determined to traverse these years left to us as well as possible.

I do not want to bore people with a litany of aches and ills. I do not want to hear myself saying (as so many of my aged friends say), “It’s no fun growing old.”

David and I want to age with grace, laughing through the years that come, accepting the physical and mental disabilities as a gift to keep our human demise before our eyes in a way that is anticipatory, not morbid.

So when I self-diagnosed the numbness and pain in my feet that activates whenever I wear the wrong shoes as Morton’s neuroma, I acquiesced to the fact that aging inevitably brings its own physical limitations. “It is what it is,” I remind myself.

A day getting the house ready and cooking for guests causes me to hobble around like I have a couple of marbles taped to the pad of my foot beneath my second and third toes—on both feet. High heels, obviously, are out.

“Aren’t you ever going to wear heels again?” asked David. No, I explained, I would not be wearing heels probably ever again. “Just pray that I don’t end up wearing a pair of orthopedic shoes.”

Obviously, I am responsible for the care of my feet. So, I make sure that any shoe I wear is ultra-comfortable, and doesn’t—in any way—pinch my toes. I buy padded lifts and slip them into shoes and I never, never walk far unless I am wearing a good pair of walking shoes that absorbs the impact of flesh on pavement. I have learned to be careful when trekking over uneven terrain.

This summer, on a 50th Wedding Anniversary trip to Italy, observing all the above precautions, we walked miles every day without the Morton’s neuroma acting up, crippling me and forcing me to spend a day in a hotel room off-itinerary. Maybe the ugly orthopedic shoes aren’t such a sure thing after all.

The other morning, however, during a prayer time, I had a totally unexpected thought. Why didn’t I use the stepping-on-marbles like pain as a reminder of the wounds of Christ? Why, when I was forced to take off a shoe because of aching feet, didn’t I intentionally remember that nails were pounded through His feet as He was impaled to the Cross. Certainly, as He pressed down against them in order to force His torso upward so His cramped lungs could suck in air, the nail-holes tore and worried the flesh and ligaments. Why didn’t I transform this minor discomfort on my own aging process into an intercessory remembrance of how Christ suffered and of how others suffer in the world?

So I have been attempting to do this work. Unlike St. Francis and other remarkable saints, I have never prayed for the stigmata, actual wounds in the flesh that come from intense and close identification with His death and suffering, but I can do this. I can look at this sometime discomfort as a gift.

Perhaps I have discovered a path forward to deal better with the inevitable signs of old age that will bring me joy in the process of physical decline.

God is in all things, even these thoughts on my 69th birthday.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-113)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
I spent a couple of weeks putting together a letter asking for travel funds for three of us who plan to visit the Global Bag Project, our work where a handful of Kenyan women are lifting themselves out of poverty by sewing lovely, artisan African bags. The project is at a crucial growth stage, and although I would like just to apply the travel funds toward their fabric purchases and their salaries, ten days spent together hugely encourages them, generates all kinds of product ideas and business plans, and keeps the stateside crew pumped for about six months!

Since my husband and I and our Global Bag Project Director have traveled to Africa about 11 times in the last five years, we have drained our personal resources and do need to look to friends to contribute to the travel fund.

You can imagine our wonder when a film project David and I had been talking about with another organization actually came through for the exact time we were planning to be in Kenya for a shoot!

This means our airfare, and half of our land fee, will be covered, and now all I have to do is raise land expense for two for the weeks we aren’t shooting!

When we teach people how to go on the God Hunt, we recommend they look for unusual evidences of God’s care. This certainly is an immediate example of that out of our personal experience. Not only do we love this kind of work since we were in the media industries for over 20 years and regret that we are not able to use our expertise in that field much, but the provision of the budget means is always a sign to us of God’s green light to involve ourselves in a project. When He doesn’t want us heading in certain directions, He just closes down the financial means!

With full and grateful hearts, we will be in pre-production planning on this film adventure for the next two months—grateful to be chosen. In addition, the funds will allow us to visit the Global Bag Project sewing sites, interact with our friends, and make joint plans for the future growth of the GBP development project.

Thank you, God. I spy You!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-112)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
We had a cancellation in our schedule this week—a standing Wednesday-morning appointment. Generally, when this happens, (no matter who cancels), David and I are glad. People who cancel are often contrite and apologize, but I truthfully can’t remember when David and I felt insulted or shafted because someone canceled out on us. We generally tell them not to worry and David and I say to one another, “Yeah!” It means we have a free space in the day where there had been no free space the day before.

I had been dancing around the scheduling book of a hairdresser who goes to our church, trying to get my little four-year old granddaughter in for a haircut. Her parents had given her a beauty-parlor kit for Christmas, so like any four-year-old, she took some scissors (not from the kit, of course) and whacked off a chunk of her hair. Angela, my daughter-in-law and Eliana’s mother, did a pretty good job of shaping everything by turning the “whacko” job into a darling bob—but it still needed a professional’s touch to finesse it.

However, Eliana’s schedule didn’t match Nancy, the beautician’s, schedule. So we went into lengthy negotiations.

Tuesday evening, after David and I had received word of the next morning’s cancellation, Nancy called me and said, “Guess what! I had a cancellation for tomorrow morning. Can your granddaughter make that?” I realized Eliana would be at daycare, several towns west of us. But suddenly I had a thought—I needed to get into the beauty parlor myself since I was leaving town to spend my 69th birthday with my eldest son and his family in Phoenix.

“Oh, I’ve just had a cancellation in my schedule,” I thought out loud. “Why don’t I take that appointment? Give me your address and I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” I had wanted to get to know Nancy a little better, so we took care of my neglected hair and had a little chat at the same time.

Wednesday morning, as I was leaving with a great haircut (and $63 dollars less in my bank account), Nancy said, “Oh Pam (a mutual friend) will be in the shop this afternoon.”

“Say hi to her for me,” I replied chuckling, since it was Pam and her husband who had canceled the Wednesday morning appointment!

Sometimes it is hard to recognize that the cancellations in our lives are often the very means by which God gives us space, by which He intervenes in our behalf, by which He rearranges our overcrowded lives.

I’ve learned to never complain about unexpected cancellations. At this stage in my life, I think to myself, Hm-m-m-m-m, I wonder what God has up His sleeve? Generally, what follows after this inward reminder is a heightened curiosity that more than makes up for any potential disappointment.

Look for God in the cancellations.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-111)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
I have been reading John Stott’s beautiful book Life in Christ, which includes replications of many of the grand master’s paintings of Jesus. Stott, who died a few months ago, was a great theologian and an exemplary Christian leader. This book is an ongoing exposition of all the Scriptures that have to do with the topic of “life in Christ.” One quote, which I read New Year’s Eve day, struck me. It was written by J. C. Ryle, the Bishop of Liverpool from 1850-1900. Life in Christ consists of Christ saying to us, “Abide in me. Cling to me. Stick fast to me. Live the life of close and intimate communion with me. Get nearer and nearer to me. Roll every burden on me. Cast your whole weight on me. Never let go your hold on me for a moment.”

The next morning, early, I checked my e-mail to find a note from a good friend. We had been having an ongoing conversation about my not pursuing my creative writing at this stage in my life. He chided me on allowing the not-so-important to divert me from what was most important. I disagreed with him about what was important and what was not important. It was, if not a heated exchange, a warm one.

So I shot him an e-mail showing him what I was doing regarding what I felt was important and he felt was not-so-important and assured him I was writing quite a bit (although just not for publication).

My first e-mail early on New Year’s Day was from this friend. And the dialogue continued with him asking the often-discussed question of how multi-gifted folk decide exactly where they devote their energies. “I guess the only way to know is to live a life that grows increasingly closer and closer to Christ.”

These two “nudges” reminded me of the set of cassettes that is stored in my book shelf that holds lectures dedicated to the topic of spiritual growth. They are recordings of the teachings of an Indian Christian spiritual leader, Brother Zac Poonen, and are profound in their emphasis that we must live a life in Christ.

Three nudges is more than enough. Obviously, this is to be the theme of my spiritual journey for this New Year. Since we no longer have a cassette player in the car, I will have to be intentional about listening to these 15 cassette teachings. The only place we have a cassette player is the small study at home where I often read the Scripture, pray and write in my journal. I have dubbed this place “the listening room.”

I just pulled down the Zac Poonen cassettes, and after I send these blogs off to my editor, I will carry these tapes down to the listening room, where I suspect I will be spending much time this year. I have much to learn about a life in Christ.

I spy God!

 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-110)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Because one of the workers at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Food Pantry lives on the same block as my son and daughter-in-law, we are often the recipients of free food. New provisions are being delivered and the shelves have to be cleared of fresh produce before it goes bad and in order to make room for the new.

“We have a box of frozen food for you,” Angela reported last week. The freezers at St. Mary’s had to be cleared due to year-end cleanout requirements and also due to another imminent delivery.

So I gladly took the food, thawed the green beans and mashed potatoes, and David and I enjoyed a good sliced-ham dinner, compliments of the free-food pantry. Several packages of meat, some penne pasta dishes, additional vegetables and a few unmarked plastic bags are now safely parked in the freezer in our garage.

I am grateful for this rather amusing and unusual provision of provender. We are glad to make sure this food doesn’t go to waste. We honked at the truck that was going up and down our son’s street, Clairmont Avenue, distributing other boxes to grateful neighbors, all with large families.

However, this gift of food makes me think of those who regularly receive supplies that supplement their meager incomes. I think of the generosity of donors and of the graciousness of volunteers. I remember those in countries I have visited who literally have nothing to eat. I see visions of starving children in refugee camps and of the lines I have seen forming for milk distribution and tin cans of grain.

I remember that food prices are going up all over the world, causing agony for the poor who suffer so much already. I ask God to forgive us our waste—Americans throw away as much as 40% of all they purchase—and to make me a more thrifty housewife.

And I pray for those who are hungry this day, for those who are watching infants waste away. “Oh, God. Bring provender to all living things on this earth. Help me not to forget those who have nothing to eat while I throw away what has spoiled or what is distasteful to our palate. Help me to honor the gift of this box of frozen food in a way that is a reminder of your intentions for all humans—health and happiness and harmony—and enough to eat.”

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-109)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
“Randall said that Nathanael almost had a terrible car accident,” my husband reported about a phone call with our eldest son who lives in Phoenix. Nathanael is old enough to have a learner’s permit and can drive with a licensed adult present in the car.

“What happened?” Of course, grandmother that I am, I was eager for the near-miss details.

It appears they had been driving on an expressway, mounted a hill and realized that logs had torn loose from a flatbed semi and were now rolling across the road toward them. Our son yelled to Nathanael to brake, pulled the wheel to steer the car away from impact, then immediately worried about the cars coming up the same hill behind them. Somehow, they avoided what could have become a tragic highway accident.

This is one of those lessons in the rationale behind defensive driving that all teens need to learn and that seasoned adult drivers often forget. On the road, it is impossible to know what surprise in the lane ahead may turn into life-threatening danger for any of us.

“Oh, I was almost in a collision on New Year’s Day.” I had forgotten to report this near-accident to my husband. Driving home from an early trip to the grocery store, with hardly any cars on the road, I paused at a four-way stoplight, and then began to turn when the light showed green and the left-turn arrow flashed. Suddenly I realized the black SUV traveling in the intersecting lane, Route 59, was going exceedingly fast and not slowing down. Instead of accelerating, which I should have done, I braked, putting me directly in the line of impact. Fortunately, the driver of the black car screeched on the brakes. I checked the signal—yep! the light was still green, the left-turn arrow still showing. I was the one in compliance. I lifted my hands in a what-the-heck-do-you-think-you’re-doing gesture, then proceeded to complete my turn.

I realized as I drove home that I had been spared a collision that would have hit our car right at the driver’s side and would have been a really, really bad beginning for the New Year.

It is at these moments when we remember that a loving God protects us from advancing dangers; they are reminders of His constant loving protection at times we know nothing about.

So I lift my heart in thanksgiving for myself, for our new teen driver Nathanael Mains, and for our families to say, “Thank you God, for these unusual evidences of your care that poke through the fabric of our daily lives to remind us that your web of protection is ever cast over all our days—even when we don’t know it.”

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-108)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Last night I woke at 1:15 and got up to do a few little tasks around the house, popped a Tylenol so I would be sleepy again in an hour, and set the timer so I would remember to go outside in the frigid cold to see if I could spot the Quadrantids—meteors that streak across the sky for about two hours in each time zone. The astronomers estimated that with a clear sky, the stalwart viewer could see as many as up to 100 falling stars an hour.

This, I felt, was worth losing sleep over.

So, I finished cleaning up the kitchen, started a crock-pot for ham-and-lentil soup, soaked some garbanzo beans for a salad, fiddled with the stubborn rings on the new shower curtains in the guest bathroom, and hung up the wet shower-curtain to dry so it wouldn’t shrink in the dryer.

At 3:00, I stepped outside, eager to spot 100 falling stars. Unfortunately, the night sky was filled with clouds. The 3/4 (last-quarter) moon, which had shone brightly through our bedroom window when I awoke, was now hidden; the midnight blue canopy of heaven was hidden. There was not a star in sight.

Now, I could have concluded that such a wonder as the Quadrantids didn’t exist. But instead, I trusted the experts. Conrad Jung, an astronomer at Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA, guaranteed the meteor showers would occur on Wednesday morning, January 4. Mark Ressler, the Weather Channel meteorologist, predicted: “Viewing should be great over most of the country.” Not, it seems, over West Chicago, Illinois. I kept squinting into the northeast part of the sky as recommended—nothing.

My conclusions, rightly so, were that the cloud cover had obscured my meteor-spotting vision. I could see nothing but gray clouds, no clear starry sky. The meteors existed and were falling through the sky at 100 per hour behind the nighttime clouds. I just couldn’t see them.

The same kind of conclusion would be profitable for those of us who look for God in puzzling, vision-dimming circumstances. Because we cannot see Him does not mean He is not working on our behalf. The experts, the spiritual meteorologists, tell us that His loving, benevolent actions are falling around us (100 per hour!) but we are simply in a life zone where the heavenly sky is covered.

During these times we would be much wiser to conclude, “Well, I can’t see what is happening, but I choose to trust that His love is falling all around me. The trouble is not with His intents on my behalf. Something is clouding my view. One day I will see the Quadrantids. I will become a witness to His wonders.”

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-107)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Because we had such a wonderful Christmas season with our extended family—adult offspring and grandchildren—I was sure I would be filled with wonderful memories of how God had met us during these holy days.

Why!—the house was all decorated three weeks before Christmas! I had time to enjoy the music and the Christmas lights and my beautiful Noel banner hung on the summer trellis outside our front door. We attended concerts in the city, shared a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at my daughter’s, spent two days together in a timeshare in rural Illinois, went to Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago with the grandchildren, and ended our week with a sing-along around my son’s piano following an appetizer supper.

Even so, those specific details eluded me—why?—I hadn’t taken the time to journal. With everything going on, I had let the recording of God’s daily work in my life pass so when I sat down at the computer to recount His goodness for this blog, my recall—filled with Christmas and the start-up of this new year and the schemes crowding my mind of how to become more efficient (a lifelong pursuit)—was just flushed away. I could not remember the intricacies of God’s goodness over the past two weeks!

David, my husband, read this psalm yesterday in the morning office. It was a reminder to me that if I am going to be faithful in going on the daily God Hunt, I must keep a written record of all the ways He has intervened in my ordinary life. And, I must keep that record every day. The God Hunt must be an intentional action on my part, not just an “Oh, by-the-way…” byproduct of life.

Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name,
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him, and speak of all his marvelous works.
Glory in his holy Name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Search for the Lord and his strength, continually seek his face.
Remember the marvels he has done,
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth.
He has always been mindful of his covenant,
the promise he made for a thousand generations.
The covenant he made with Abraham, the oath that he swore to Isaac,
Which he established as a statute for Jacob,
An everlasting covenant for Israel.

—Psalm 105:1-5, 8-10

A journal is key to remembering God’s marvelous works; when God works in your life (and in my life), write it down.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-106)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Christmas starts for different people at different points. Some don’t feel like Christmas has begun until they have attended a concert of Handel’s Messiah. Others feel that Christmas starts when the tree is up, decorated and the lights are plugged in.

For me Christmas starts when the house is decorated—all three floors—the trees are up and lit and the Christmas table is set. Doing all this is no small chore since David and I have traditionally divided the holiday chores between us. He does the gift-buying and wrapping, he plans and purchases tickets for outstanding events. I decorate the house and plan the menu. I shop and cook. My husband does the kitchen clean up after the meal.
Also, any cards that get sent to friends are taken care of by David also.

This is a pretty good division of Christmas labor—at least, it works for us. It does mean that what rooms get decorated or not depends completely upon my schedule, strength and gumption.

This year, after three or four days of straight work, the house looked and felt like December magazine photos. I cannot say how many times I went up and down the attic steps, but the charley-horse cramps I felt at night indicated I’d taxed my physical abilities.

However, all this work was made worth it when my granddaughter Eliana dropped past (along with her Mom and Dad and little brother). “WOW!” she exclaimed, looking at the tree lights, and the nativity sets. “WOW!” The basement also received her acclamation. Eliana “WOW”-ed her way through my entire house.

I have to admit that not only was this slightly funny—was she “WOW!”-ing because she thought that was the appropriate thing to do? Or, was it because this was really a “WOW!”-ful experience for her?—but it made me feel really good that I had gone to all the work of filling the house with all the traditional Christmas things I dragged from the attic boxes.

I wonder if, like Eliana, I have been saying “WOW!” enough to God. Have I really let the deepest meanings of Christmas penetrate my heart and psyche once again? Have I been overwhelmed, filled with awe and struck by the beauty of it all? There have been exquisite moments, but have I made a point of “WOW”-ing all over the place?

Christ has come. God is with us. Christ is coming again. WOW!

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-105)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Several years back, a fabric-artist friend made me a NOEL banner out of kite fabric. But, I’ve never had a place to hang it. The design was meant to hang perpendicularly. To hang the bright blue strip with its curlicue letters horizontally, like a flag, meant that no one could read the message, NOEL (the French word for Christmas; a jubilant expression of Christmas joy).

I once hung it flat against a wall in the basement, but somehow that didn’t seem to be the dramatic setting its design demanded. So, I folded the banner, stored it in a cedar chest and, sadly, forgot about it.

Last summer, Amy Casper, the Wheaton College student, lived with us for about eight weeks after her graduation. She was a delight to have in the house. One morning we tackled a project I had been determined to start (AND finish) that summer. We pounded and spray-painted and joined together a rather stunning trellis for the brick wall beside the front door.

“Did you see our trellis?” we asked everyone who came to the front door. “Amy and I made that. We are WOMAN?” You get the idea. We were gleefully gloating over our accomplishment.

This Christmas I dug deeply down into the cedar chest and pulled out the NOEL banner. “Where in the world could I hang it this year? Certainly, there must be some place for this beautiful artisan fabric.”

The trellis! … Could it possibly fit on the trellis?

I pushed an empty flagpole rod through the top header, took some twine and tied the banner snugly against the wooden slats. The weather was climate enough that I was able to press a spotlight holder into the ground, run an outdoor extension-cord around the garage to an inside outlet, and lo and behold! the banner hung in place as though Amy and I had designed the trellis to hold it and it alone. The spot illuminated the NOEL graphics. And, at dusk, or in the deep of night, or in the northern grey of a December morning, my banner proclaims, it sings! It announces this age-old, jubilant expression of Christmas joy: NOEL! NOEL! NOEL!

That, of course, could not happen when it was folded, hidden and forgotten, underneath seasonal blankets and spare pillows for guests, at the bottom of a cedar chest with the top shut. A banner needs to be hung if it is to be seen and its message read.

NOEL!

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-104)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
My four-year-old granddaughter, Eliana, is being raised bilingually. She actually has three languages—Spanish, English, and Eliana. When in doubt she resorts to babble. Consequently, I only catch about one-third of what she enthusiastically reports to me.

To five of my grandchildren (Caitlyn, Landis, Nathanael, Elias and Nehemiah), I am Nina. To two of my grandchildren (Joscelyn and Ayden), I am Nonnie. Eliana started out by calling me Meena. Frankly, I have enough trouble remembering which grandchild calls me what. So, I worked hard to teach Elle that my grandma nomenclature began with an N, not an M. “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Nina, “ I would demonstrate. And she would answer, “Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Meena.” It was just hard getting that M out of her head once it had taken lodging there.

However, last weekend I noticed that Eliana was calling me Nina, emphasizing the N, to my great pleasure. “Yeahh!” I shouted. “Great job, Eliana!” And then to be sure, “Who am I?”

“Nina,” she replied.

I am learning that when I have the little ones over—Nehemiah, age two, and Eliana, age four—the better part of wisdom is to put everything away and just park myself in the same room and play with them. This is not the time for me to make progress with tasks at hand.

Nehemiah gets absorbed in his toys, but Eliana explores the house. Her great curiosity drives her to open doors, investigate cupboards, etc. She leaves a remarkable trail behind her wherever her explorations have led.

Take the downstairs bath, for instance. The water glass, the soap dish, and my dried arrangement above the toilet had all been plundered. Soggy water sat in the glass, which had been stirred with a stalk pulled from the basket. Some random toy animals guarded this mess. There were hydrangea droppings on the floor, on the toilet seat, and on the rug.

Or, take the Advent Calendar on the table in front of the fireplace. Where did she find the scissors and how did she cut up that cardboard cover? I decided to leave the clean up for the next morning.

Instead, I took Eliana downstairs and we began to play “Monster-Meena.” This is where the grandmother stretches out under a blanket among the pillows on the couch, then pulls the cover over her head. The child approaches, discovers the grandmother who swoops her up onto the couch, tickling and shoveling her gently and roughly (yes it can be done) against the cushion. Much whooping and giggling ensues.

Sometimes we can’t make our mind up whether or not God is Monster-God. Because of our language development, we go around misnaming Him “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah Meena.” Other people know Him by other more correct names. But, we’re sort of stuck with a childlike mispronunciation. If the occasion warrants and we find time to roughhouse on the soft couch among the pillows, to get close to Him in a playful kind of way, we may discover that He is so much more than our feeble attempts to describe Him can possibly achieve.

“The chief end of man is to enjoy God and love him forever.” —Westminster Catechism.

Have you had time to play with God this season? Enjoying God enough leads to loving Him forever. You may not only begin calling Him by another name, you may even hear His pet name for you.

“Who am I?” is a questions we humans wrestle with most of our lives. It is been my experience that knowing God better helps me answer that question well.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-103)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
Some friends gave us their annual gift of a CD-mix with Christmas music taken from various sources. Moving in and out of the reading study in our home where we also keep the music library, I kept hearing little pieces of this song. I finally took time to sit and listen to the whole thing. It pretty much says it all.

Zechariah and the Least-Expected Places

Jerusalem and the holy temple filled with smoke
Zechariah shuns the news from the angel of hope
Stuck behind an incense cloud of religion and disappointment

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks
in alleys off the beaten path.
Open both your eyes.

Prophet and kings and poets can contribute their work
Just like the eggs in a nest are alive with the promise of birds
But the Lord of Creation will not be subjected to expectation

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks
in alleys off the beaten path.
Open both your eyes.

Elizabeth, barren, her knees black and dirty like coal
her consistent prayers float to the sky and revive her soul
God we will wait though we don’t understand your redemptive story.

God keeps slipping out of underneath rocks
in alleys off the beaten path.
Open both your eyes.

—So Elated

We are at the beginning of the Twelve Days of Christmas. There is still time to open both your eyes.

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-102)

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 every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 
David ordered tickets to attend the Ballet Folklorico at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL. This auditorium restoration has returned the theatre to its original art-deco style. It is gorgeous and has served the western suburbs with dance and theatre for the last couple of decades. My husband invited some of the Hispanic friends who serve us in the bank we frequent.

We were not prepared to be stunned by the sheer beauty of the traditional costumes. It felt like the majority of the hundreds of Hispanic Americans in the audience were friends and family of the performers on stage, a local dance troupe. Everyone—kids parents, grandparents—were all certainly boosters.

At the end of the evening, the dancers came down off the stage into the aisles, and I noticed one middle-aged man stepping out of the audience and moving to the traditional rhythm with a teenage girl between 13 and 16 years of age. It felt like the people around me, even with the music and the dance and the clapping, took special notice. They nodded to one another and fixed their attention on this man and his young partner.

The Cuban émigré sitting beside me, with whom I’d been chatting during the intermission whispered, “You see that man? He is a priest in town here.”

Suddenly the picture became enchanting. This was a local pastor, known and beloved by many, grabbing the opportunity to celebrate the music of his native country by dancing part of the ballet folklórico in the aisles!

That piece ended. The dancers proceeded back up to the stage for the curtain calls. One woman in front of me motioned to the man who had danced, who was across the aisle from her. He collapsed in fake exhaustion back into his seat, pounded his chest with his hand, then made the sign of the cross over his heart.

The Ballet Folklorico provided us with a lovely, lovely pre-Christmas evening. “We’ll have to do this every year,” whispered my husband.

Yes, I thought. We must celebrate the fact that the High Priest has edged into our human performance and is wanting to step beside us to the rhythm of life’s music. Those who have eyes to see understand that this Dancing One is the One whose birth and life we celebrate this Christmas season.

Olé!

I spy God!
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 microfinance 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. The 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.
 
 
(GHS-101)