God Encounters

God IS.....God is vast....God is present....God is, was, and ever will be...God is beyond the ability of the finite human mind to imagine.....but God encounters don't have to be. Sometimes, we get to be the bearer, sometimes the recipient. God encounters come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's a smile or a touch, sometimes a word or card or email, and sometimes it's a jaw dropping, eye opening experience...but it's always a life changing experience even if we don't notice the changes immediately.
I had a GOd encounter tonight. And it was one of those where I got to be the encounter bearer, and the recipient both! I have spoken in the past here and on my other blog about a sweet small boy J and his siblings who have all been in foster care. We had the privilege of being J's foster family for a short while. We had to put him in a mental hospital because his needs were far greater than a family could mend. His siblings have gotten to go back home to their mom. Their mom, A, has found her way out of her abusive marriage, and into the arms of God. She has found, utilized and implemented the help she needed to bring her kids home.
As we joined a larger group for a time of worship and fellowship this evening in a nearby town I got to see J's siblings again and meet their mom.  The difference between those children in foster care and now was like night and day!  There is peace within them now, it just glows around them.  THey also shared with me that J is no longer in the mental hospital but is transitioning through another foster home to be able to come back home.  He is healing!  What joy is in my heart!! Their mom thanked me over and over again for all that I had done to help her son. She had been afraid when she met me that I would shun her as other foster moms have, and I was nervous that she would despise me for putting her son in a mental hospital. Instead God spoke to both of us, opened our hearts and eyes to see the person He sees. We shared, we hugged, we cried together, we loved on the kids, and we worshipped together. I feel beyond fortunate tonight to have been both the giver and receiver of God's gracious blessings. I drove then 45 min home with a smile on my lips and overflowing joy in my heart. God IS....AMAZING!!!

Semper Gumby

Found this quote today and was reminded how important flexibility is:
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
~Anonymous

How flexible are you? Do you have your own rigid expectations that guide your life? or are you open to being led where God leads even when that path seems far from what is familiar? Do you hold yourself too stiff in your "rightness"? or Do you answer God's call to Love and Forgive even when the pain remains?
God calls us to be His Light in the world especially in the shadows, He calls us to Love even in the midst of pain, and He calls us to Forgive even when that chip on our shoulder clouds our view.
Getting all bent out of shape is a choice. Not to say that we should not react emotionally to anything, but which emotions we allow to control us, and to what degree is a choice. I am guilty of getting bent out of shape now and then as we all are. I also strive though to be quick to apologize, forgive, or just let things roll off my back when it's not something in my control. Being flexible means that we don't break easily and are able to take the curves that life throws in our way even when they are sharp and fast.
Semper Gumby. It takes prayer. It takes conscious effort. It takes willingness.
Semper Gumby,
God Bless!