Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
 
 
 

In California recently I was staying at the home of our friends John and Madelle Payne, whose gracious hospitality always makes me renew my intent to be more hospitable and a better hostess myself.

They left me on Thursday morning alone (what a gift) and informed me who would pick me up to take me to the first planning meeting of that day. I read, and luxuriated in Scripture and wrote in my prayer journal and basically basked in the fact that I had a whole morning I could spend in bed. A rare treat in my life these days, although in the past, in the child-raising years, I claimed a good couple of days a month for bed days. My theory was that my body needed to restore itself due to all the clamor and chaos and demands of living in a home with one world-changing husband and four energetic and active offspring.

When I gathered my books and notes together, got dressed, and then made the bed, I realized I didn’t know where I had placed my cell phone. The battery was low and I needed to recharge it before I left the house that morning. In fact, I had just received a call from a friend, so I knew I had brought it with me from Chicago. Where had I put the silly thing (which is always eluding me somehow)? I looked under the bed, under my board of directors’ notebook, under my journal, patted down the covers, prodded with my fingers into the space between the frame and the mattress. No cell phone. Then I repeated the process again. I kept remembering that the battery was low. If I didn’t find it soon, I might not be able to hear a call signal.

Oh, no problem, I thought. I’d just use the Payne’s landline and call my cell. No landline. My lovely, relaxed morning was quickly descending into a whirling swirl of concern about finding the phone (which I would need as I traveled home and then onto Philadelphia). Surely, quietly, I heard that inner reminder. Stop fussing. You’ll find it when you find it. You are ruining this quiet hour with all this searching. Obediently, I stopped, sat myself down and resumed the contemplative posture that had been feeding my soul.

When my friend rang the doorbell, I greeted her with the rather obnoxious remark, “I need you to call my cell phone.” We went into the bedroom, she called, and we could actually hear the phone ring. We looked around the floor, patted the covers, and went so far as to unmake the bed. She called the number again, and aha!—this time we found the little slim-line phone that takes up so little space it can’t be felt when two women do a “body-search” on the bedding. It had slipped between the covers—taking a nap, I suppose.

Finding things is so much a part of my life. My husband rarely searches for his keys, never hunts, of course, for his purse, but I am always looking for something. Papers get lost on my desk (and if I am organized and file things away, I can’t remember where I hid them). So I really, really appreciate the analogy to the fact that if we are going to find the God who is always looking for us, we must meet him in that hunt by making an effort to identify His work in our lives, moment by moment, day by day, year after year.

Though I’ve kept a journal recording the daily interventions of the divine in my life for almost 40 years, writing these blogs have brought me to a richer realization than I’ve ever experienced before. Taking time to do more than just jot down reminders of God’s loving work on a list has made my God hunt journey even more full.

I lose things, like cell phones, between the covers, but I am a really good hunter. I know much of life is filled with finding things. Why would it be any different with finding God? I must set myself aside in order to see, in order to hear, in order to find. It takes some time, but this hunt is certainly one of the greatest pleasures of my whole life.

I spy God (again and again)!
 
 
 
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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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