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 you pursue a spiritual walk—particularly as you look for evidence of God’s presence in your everyday life—sometimes the smallest variable from the plotted route can cause almost immeasurable lostness. So stop. Take a look at the map of your soul. Ask yourself, How did I get to where I am? Where did I make the wrong turn that has brought me to this unintended destination?

Look again at the map of your soul. You didn’t know it, but you have traveled far from where you want to be. You can’t see God working in your days. You hardly think about Him in the resting moments. A slight mistake (ever so slight, almost unnoticeable) in navigation, a detour despite the warnings—DANGER AHEAD—can cause an irreparable error in destination.

We want to be heading home toward God, instead. We want to be running along beside Him, catching up and getting in step, grabbing His hand, holding onto His elbow. He is the loved One and the loving One. He woos, pursues, seeks you out in a crowd, whispers your name with tenderness, over and over, and waits, endlessly it seems, for you to join Him in the delightful activity of seeking and finding.

Yet you can’t play in the backyard, if you are wandering on the wrong side of town. You can’t journey with Him, if you are hitchhiking by the roadside, going the other direction.

God is always here, in this moment, in this now. You are the one who is going to have to figure out where you went wrong, make the decision to backtrack, apologize for keeping Him waiting, and rush into His waiting arms.

This is the journey for every renegade, dilettante, or prodigal who has journeyed into a far country. Come home. The One who loves you is watching the road. He waits for you to exclaim, I spy You, 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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