How many times in the busy pace of your life do you stop and notice small hints of His grace sprinkled throughout your day? If you're moving too fast, it's hard to notice. But if you determine to be aware and watching for these small love notes from Him, the Holy Spirit will highlight them to you...guaranteed...and you will watch in amazement as to how often and when they appear!
Brief grocery store story from yours truly: I had taken the boys with me to the grocery store on a busy Monday after we had been at home with air conditioning repair, working on refinancing our mortgage, rescheduling some dental work for me, and arranging my husband's surgery details (torn achilles repair, altogether another story!). Needless to say, mommy was already fried when we got there and just needed to get a little food for our very bare refrigerator. To make matters worse, it was one of those days at the grocery store when there are so many people in the aisles, you have to steer around them and take turns to move!
As I am cruising and referring back to my list (not to mention letting my children eat their way through the store - you know a donut here, a cheese stick there, etc.), I realize a few items that I have forgotten. Almost on cue, I look up to find the exact item I would have purchased stranded in another section altogether (for example, pistachios in a facing of tortillas). The first time it happened, I thought, "Oh, okay that's good - I don't have to circle back through the crowded store." But the second time? I knew it was traces of His grace. And while a small thing in our busy life - still very indicative of our compassionate God, who cares about even the little details of our lives.
For one last flourish in the icing on the cake/lesson - as I was outside loading the groceries in the car and kids in the car seats, I notice we have lost one pair of Spider-Man sunglasses. Why the big deal? Only because we have two pairs, and if you know anything about close siblings...only having one would cause big issues in the future. Which means, in short, for me, I would be throwing out the other pair if we couldn't find the ones we had lost. Now it's 200 degrees (okay 100), and I have $200 worth of groceries already in the car...unloading children and heading back inside seemed like the least appealing thing in the world. So I look over and see some teenage employees pushing carts and asked them nicely if they wouldn't mind looking at the check-stand we had been at a few minutes earlier - a long shot but worth it in this mom's opinion. They agreed and began walking back; they returned just a few minutes later, having found them on the ground on their way back into the store!
Once again, if you're not looking, these things may seem like coincidences or "thank goodness" moments; but if you're tuned in - they can come to mean so much more than that and keep you moving (with a smile on your face) on this sometimes tiring road we call life! HE IS GOOD :).
Psalm 37:23 - The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
II Corinthians 12:9 - But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness.
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