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:
Sue Higgins is a true intercessor. When she says she’ll pray for me, she does. Everyone needs a Sue Higgins in their life. So I try to stay connected as much as I can because I know I need Sue’s giftedness of covering her friends with her prayers.
Two weekends ago, I returned on a Saturday, after a long day of air travel from San Francisco to Chicago, arriving at 12:00 p.m. I spent Sunday at home, for turnaround time, then drove the car to O’Hare early on Monday morning to fly to Philadelphia where I was scheduled to be picked up by my husband and two grandsons, one 17 and the other 11, both of whom had studied a unit of American History this last term. David and I thought it would be an opportune way to reinforce their learning by visiting the historical sites around Philly and Washington, D.C.
A couple weeks before this trip, our friend, a former United Airlines employee, e-mailed me with the news that she suddenly discovered she had five “buddy” tickets that she had to use (or lose) before March 31st. Was I going anywhere that I could fly United and she could give me one or two of these passes? However, with the merger between United and Continental, none of the employees were sure of how this all worked anymore.
I’d already booked my tickets on American Airlines to Philadelphia, but a quick exercise in totaling figures revealed that even with a change fee and paying fuel and tax surcharges on the buddy pass, I would save a couple hundred dollars in applying this ticket to a May trip to California. So I called American, my friend booked my pass (still quite confused and nervous about the procedure) and I trusted that on Monday morning I would be able to get a standby seat on the flight to Pennsylvania.
While checking my e-mail in the interregnum between the California trip and the trip to Pennsylvania, I noticed on Sunday that Sue had written, “Praying for you as you travel today, that your flights will go smoothly and that you will arrive safely.”
I appreciated this notice, thinking that it was so like Sue to remember me, but didn’t realize how much I would appreciate it once I got traveling again.
Something about being tired after a few days of board meetings, after long journeys, and the anxiety of my former United employee friend about the booking process, left me vulnerable to the travel anxiety dobbie (you know dobbies, don’t you?—they’re the little anxious gremlins, green or grey, who creep into our vulnerabilities and cause inner panic and distress). The moment I parked my car at 6:00 a.m. in the remote Parking Lot F, caught the shuttle bus from booth 5, marking on my ticket that I was between row H and J, I began to be nervous about whether I would make it out of Chicago or have to play the “Going From Gate to Gate” game, to catch a seat on a plane headed east.
Nothing I could do would settle this churning concern. I couldn’t pray my way to calm. I seemed to be too tired to remind myself effectively of how many times God had been my traveling companion and really, all bookings are always in His hands.
Then I remembered, I remembered the e-mail notice that came a day too early but actually right on time. My friend Sue Higgins had prayed for me and something had prompted her to insert her prayer into my e-mail notices, and I relaxed and just let her prayers cover my weariness, the United/Continental merger, the small airplane at the gate and what looked like too-numerous passengers waiting to board. Sue had prayed. I was covered. I could just take a deep breath and relax. My prayers might be like wisps of trailing smoke this Monday morning, but Sue had prayed.
There were four of us listed for standby on the overhead screen; I got the last available seat. I was the only passenger at the gate after everyone else had boarded, but Sue had prayed, and the gate attendant finally called my name. I arrived in Philadelphia on time as scheduled to hear the enthusiastic reports of husband and grandsons about their previous day’s tour of the Gettysburg battleground.
In the “we believe” coterie of faith, when one is prayer-less, another is prayer-ful. When one is weary, another is rested. When one is filled with fear, anxiety and turmoil, another is calm, and at peace and at a place of profound faith. “Got you covered,” David will say to me sometimes when my pace has been more frantic than I know it should be. “Got you covered.”
The work of God is so evident to me in this collaborative community of faith. Sue Higgins sent me an e-mail one day early letting me know that she was praying for me as I traveled. And I gave up the silly trauma that can come from not knowing what is going to happen and thought, Sue’s already prayed for me. She’s got this covered.
I spy God!
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.
Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
