I heard a pastor say it recently, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. He said this, “You want your life filled with things that prophesy.”
He went on to explain that he could take you on a tour throughout his entire house and walk you through items, telling story after story of where this was purchased, and where that was purchased. When they received this item, and what was happening in this season when this particular item was acquired.
I would bet we could all do that.
And maybe this will sound strange to you - but my mind shifted immediately to our bed.
Yes… of all the things I could think about, and I thought instantly about our temper-pedic mattress we purchased last year, just before we moved to Indiana.
It had been a tough season. And for many reasons.
2018 would bring several layers of painful difficulties.
We would experience prolonged illness, job loss, financial strain, and hard goodbyes.
We would endure nights of sleeplessness, heartbreak with lots of tears, and anxiety we’d never anticipated to feel.
Oh, but God.
He never left us.
He never abandoned us.
And we learned more about His nature and His character during that time of our lives MORE than in any other season we’d faced as a couple before.
The final time I talked to my friend, Lesa, before the ugly disease would take her from this world all too soon, was on February 13, 2019, at 8:40 a.m. I had awoken from sleep with her on my mind, and was messaging her to “check in.” She would report about the setbacks she had experienced in her treatment plan, but how she was able to see God in all of it, and remained thankful for the “strong chemo that appears to be working.” She would even sacrifice her precious time to include questions about Chloe in school, and always made sure to ask how Trevor and I were doing. She would say these words, “Waiting for God’s timing can be trying”, and would ask that I pray, “that in His timing this unglued cancer will leave my body. That this experience will help me grow stronger in my faith in God, and that I will accept whatever comes my way with grace and dignity.”
It was my last text from her, before she entered into her face-to-face encounter with her Savior last spring.
And in the summer there would be an estate sale at her house.
And in a time of need, and in a season of strain, we would gratefully purchase several items from her home.
And one was her bed.
And I can say with a heart full of joy, that there’s rarely a day that passes when I look at that bed and don’t think about her.
How beautiful she was.
How kind she was.
How generous she was.
How on a cold winter afternoon in December, just the year before, she hosted a Christmas luncheon for a few of her friends, and how wonderful she made it for us. The lunch was perfect, the decorations were so festive, and she was happy and full of life.
And yet in almost a blink of an eye, she was gone.
But as I look at this bed every day, I am also filled with such joy and so much gratitude… for a God who provides. For a God who sees, not only our gigantic needs, but also our seemingly trivial desires.
And I can look at this bed and say - THIS is more than a bed.
THIS is the thing that was given by God at a certain time in our lives when we needed to be reminded that THROUGH IT ALL - He is still God and He is still good. Oh.. and that His timing IS perfect!
It’s no longer a bed that we sleep on - but it’s a expression of His manifest presence, and evidence of this ongoing relationship with a God who, “delights in me.” (Ps 18:19)
And so I wonder if we can do it this week… while so many of us are at home anyway.
Can we look around our homes and take note of all the things He has done!
Can we look around and perceive the goodness of the Lord all around us!
To, instead of seeing lack, we focus on all the things that prophesy of His nature to abundantly bless those who love Him!
God wants our lives to be filled with things that prophesy… things that tell of our story with Him as the Author. The things that tell of His mercy. Things that infuse hope into the world.
I look around today and see things that tell His story of faithfulness in our lives!
Can we be bold today to find the good, and instead of asking, “Why”, begin saying, “THIS is what we have seen Him do! THIS is what God is doing! And THIS is what He wants to do again!”
All is an invitation… how will we respond to all He has so lovingly given?
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