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 sent our son Joel (he is a director/producer/editor with our video team) overseas to India for two weeks on a video shoot for Gospel for Asia, a mission organization that calls out, trains, and sends national missionaries throughout Asia. During this time, David’s father died, and although his death was imminent and Joel had fortunately had a chance to say his last goodbyes, it was still a stressful moment for us all to handle wakes, funerals, family gatherings, gravesite ceremonies, and the luncheon afterward.

On the morning of the funeral home visitation, I offered to take care of my grandson Elias John so my daughter-in-law Laurie could have a break from child-care and go to a beauty salon for an uninterrupted moment of private pampering. It wasn’t long after Laurie had left my house that I received a frantic cell phone call. “Karen, I’ve had an automobile accident. The car is totaled.”

You cannot imagine my anxiety or my dismay. I wasn’t exactly sure where Laurie was or in what condition. I was stuck at home with a two-year-old and didn’t have a car that morning, and my husband was in transit. I couldn’t reach him, nor could I get through the automated phone system at our ministry to a live voice—all I could do was leave urgent voice-mail messages. Frantically I dialed 9-1-1.

“My daughter-in-law has just called to say she’s had an accident. I can hear the sirens. And please listen to me very carefully. My daughter-in-law is a diabetic, and I don’t know what effect this trauma will have on her blood glucose level.”

“Hold on, lady,” said the voice on the other end of the phone. “We’re going to patch you into our dispatcher. We’ll find her and talk you through this.”

And, indeed they did. In a little bit of time David got my frantic phone message, came hurtling home, drove up the street, found Laurie dazed but unhurt (with just an airbag scrape under her chin), and the occupants in the other vehicle unharmed. He brought her home, and we tucked her in on the couch in front of the fireplace.

In a few moments a police officer knocked politely at our front door. He gently inquired of Laurie about the circumstances of the accident. Then he said to her, “Now please understand. None of us sets out to do this, to get banged up on the highway. This was an accident. That is why it is called an ‘accident.’” This young man in his leather patrolman’s jacket must have been a grad student in sensitivity training school. My jaw dropped, and tears came to my eyes. I escorted him to our front door. When he was outside, he asked in a very soft voice, “Now is she going to be all right?”

Quietly my husband said, “Well the car is totaled, but another millisecond and the passenger truck would have rammed into the driver’s door; that could have been bad. Or, what if Elias had been in the back seat? The other drivers were using a truck to move furniture and holding a toddler on their lap, without a seatbelt, in the front seat. What if the child had gone through the window?”

Laurie was safe. We weren’t going to have a hospital incident on top of a funeral, or worse—a funeral on top of a funeral. Undeniably, we were convinced that we were surrounded by unexpected evidences of God’s care.

I spy God!
 
 
 
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, "Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains." In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This 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.
 
 
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