Sometimes I need a sign. Like a for reals, written on the wall kind of sign. In the moments when I am not looking for them is when they find me and are most beneficial to me. Sometimes I find myself searching for them more than I do the One who gives them. In those times I have to back up and regain my perspective. I have on occasion had a sign intervention. Like the time, when I was 9 month pregnant with a baby that was the fulfillment of a promise to this once barren woman and a sign led me right into such a distracted state that I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time in my life.

That morning my expanding belly had forced me to move my seat back. I buckled my seatbelt and set out on a drive I’d made multiple times. I was on a particularly curvy road when I looked up to see a sign congratulating my friends on the arrival of their new baby. In fact their New baby Girl had just been born and the sign read “Congratulations! Margaret and Larry! It’s a Girl!” About the time I read Girl, inserted her name, and before I could process it all I was sitting in a car full of smoke from airbag deployments. In a matter of seconds I had managed to wreck my car. In a matter of moments more I found myself on the side of a road with a paramedic placing a giant IV in my bruised arm. And within an hour I was taken to the Emergency Room to check on the baby I was carrying.

Panic and Shock occurred simultaneously. Until that moment I did not know that was even a possibility. I was protected that day. God protected me and the life within me. Despite the force of impact, the baby I was carrying was fine, and so was I. He didn’t wait too much longer after that day to make his appearance. Perhaps he decided to be born lest he risk another near miss resulting from my distracted state. A few weeks later I delivered a baby boy. (Just recently that baby girl whose birth was announced on that sign turned 14 years old. My own baby also recently turned 14.) Conclusion. Be present in the moment, focus on the here and now.

Another sign intervention, with much different results happened some time later. I was overwhelmed and afraid about someone I love dearly. Fear gripped me and I was scared senseless. I was literally begging the Father to intervene, bargaining with everything I had in me. Every Moment I that was not consumed by other things I was trying to figure a way out of the most certain detriment that was sure to befall my loved one.

I eventually reached the obvious conclusion. Apart from Jesus’ intervention, there was no way out. I begged Him to show me it was going to be fine, and I am honest to goodness not kidding, I rounded a curve and there spelled out in a marquee-like fashion were the words “Everything is going to be OK.” I literally turned my car around and took a picture of those words, After I snapped the picture. I sat in my car and wept because I knew no matter what, everything really was going to be okay. That was nearly a decade ago. Conclusion. No matter the outcome, God is in control, His ways are best and I can trust that it will be okay.

In the late winter to early spring of 2015, I was having a bad day. The kind of bad day that lasts for weeks. I was walking to my assigned task for the day when I happened upon another kind of sign. Painted on the side of a wagon. I speculated on how it had come to be right in my path, right when I needed it. I had concluded, perhaps it was abandoned as a transportation device when its occupant declared “I can walk by myself” or its cumbersome nature proved too challenging to continue the journey onward. Maybe it’s squeaky wheel was too much an annoyance to overrule its functionality. Regardless of the circumstances that rendered it in my path on my way to do what I do, it’s message from My King was a welcome and encouraging reminder. He is indeed with me always…even until the end of the Age. Conclusion: I am not alone, He is with me always.

There is a Pastor I adore that has often said “God speaks to us in the Language we can hear.” I agree. God knows that if the messages I have received from the sign interventions had come in other ways, I likely would not have received them, but because I needed a sign in that moment, He gave me one. He is good like that. The reality is though, I do not have to ride around looking at the marquee for a sign, a word of encouragement or direction to take. In fact He has given me a huge 66 books contained in one big, best-selling book. The Bible, His word is full of direction, a road map of sorts. His word is a treasure trove full of reminders of what I need in the moment I need them. I just need to be looking for them.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” Isaiah 30:21

Do you ever slow down and just drink in the beauty of what is around you?  Do you stop to breathe in the fresh air and admire the majestic trees and the gorgeous flowers? What about the birds and the happy songs they sing? Have you ever walked in the woods and the only sound is the rustling of the leaves and some small creature scurrying through the underbrush?

As we feel the nip in the air as summer fades to fall, we once again get to see the leaves on our majestic trees begin to turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red. A favorite pastor used to say that God takes out his mighty paintbrush and paints a beautiful portrait for us to enjoy.  As the seasons change, I am reminded of the majesty and splendor of God that we see in His beautiful creation.

Andrew Peterson has a wonderful ballad, Nothing to Say that describes how driving through Arizona caught him by surprise.

“And the mountains sing your glory Hallelujah, The canyons echo sweet amazing grace.”

My husband and I were able to experience the beauty a few years ago as friends drove us from the flat, cactus covered desert of Phoenix up through the mesas to the beautiful painted deserts of Sedona. As if it couldn’t get any better, we continued north and began to drive through breath-taking mountain ranges and beautiful canyons all the way into Flagstaff where there was snow on the ground. All in one day! Our creator definitely caught us by surprise that day and I couldn’t help but shed a few tears and worship my wonderful Creator as we listened to the song that day.

We can see the greatness of our creator even in the smallest of things. I remember tiny purple flowers, no bigger than a pencil eraser that I used to pick as a little girl.  I love to watch the beautifully painted butterflies landing here and there in the yard on flowers. And honey bees gathering the nectar and pollen so that we can have honey.  Sweet baby calves as they play about with one another in the pasture by my house.

One of my favorite memories with my older children is when we lay on blankets in the back yard on a cold winter night and watched the heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the sky proclaim his handiwork (Psalm 19:1). We watched meteor after meteor shoot across the star filled sky that night. My heart still rejoices in those moments of worshipping our creator as we watched that show and the verse resonated in my mind.

God of Wonders by Third Day is a powerful song that calls us to worship this Holy, Lord of heaven and earth. Our wonderfully creative creator who put together every detail. This creator who spoke the whole world into existence. He gives us glimpses of himself in this creation.

Romans 1:20 – For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

God has made himself evident to us in his creation. We see Him. In this crazy busy life you live, take a moment and see where God is showing himself to you. Remind yourself of the beautiful places that he has allowed you to see in this world. All around He is showing Himself to us and, in our beautiful state of Alabama, you don’t have to go very far to see Him.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…” Isaiah 9:6

As we celebrate this season of the birth of the savior, the fulfillment of God’s promise, look to your own life and see what the LORD has done. Relish in the promises fulfilled and the gifts given to you. Savor this story with the eyes of the Wise Men!

I’m not much of a numbers person. Numbers and Math, they aren’t my best. One need only ask Scott Martin about such a deficit to realize, no I’m more of a craft, history, English person.

I have a friend who is a number fanatic of sorts. She loves them, looks for patterns in them. The numbers that surround her, they mean something. She will read them like I read words woven together with intention to form a sentence. I read the same numbers and they mean little to me. Despite my number hesitations, the fact that the King made me a promise and then kept that promise on the 7th day of the month that typically encapsulates His New Year has never escaped me. Seven is His Number.

Long ago He promised a barren woman she would be given a child if she only obeyed what He was imploring her to do. She hadn’t heard His voice many times so she was hesitant to obey, but obey she did. On Ten Seven she gave birth to a Seven Ten son. For many months She was confused, the barren woman acted out of obedience and had indeed had a child as she was promised but the barren woman could not understand why the child was a boy. She was convinced the child would be a beautiful peaceful girl, yet held in her arms was a cranky, have to lay on top of him to change a diaper, won’t sleep in a bed, didn’t talk ’til he was 4 years old son.

The Barren Woman didn’t know much but she knew the King’s Word could be trusted so she headed there for some answers. There she found that every time the King gave a baby to those Barren Women of old who had cried out to Him, as she had, he answered her with a boy. A unique boy destined for great things that The King himself had prepared early on for him. The Barren Woman took comfort in that and learned to love that “ninja-like-stealth escapee with mad non-food eating skills and cantankerous nature” well. Eventually he gained a voice, learned to use the restroom, and became a creative and unique child.

Over time she had learned a few things, there has never been nor will there ever be one quite like that promised boy. He is quick-witted and has a sense of humor that is a delightful combination of his Mama and Daddy. He loves with a love that never sees color or race. He is blind to differences, and the hatred of another based on the outward appearance boggles his mind. He loves Jesus and loves Him for reasons most adult people have yet to understand. His favorite attribute of God is that “He is.” He worships in a way unique to himself.

I used to be a tad disgruntled over the Promised Boy and the quirky things that make him unique. Yet over time and after much pondering and prayer, I am so thankful to be His Mama, to be the very front line witness of miracle after miracle where he is concerned.

A while back we ventured to a friend’s house for an impromptu chili and hotdog supper. My friend, when asked what we could bring said, “Food for the boy, ’cause he don’t like chili or hotdogs.” I giggled as I read that text. She knows him, loves him, and understands him. She isn’t offended that he doesn’t care for chili and wouldn’t have taken it personally if I’d’ve busted up to her house with a sack full of sub-par cheeseburgers for him. She had purchased a cake for dessert, and upon the realization that it was the Boy’s 13th birthday eve, she rummaged through her junk drawer until she found 13 mismatched partially used birthday candles to place atop the once just dessert cake turned Birthday Cake. His face, when he surveyed the pink princess candles with stars on top was priceless.

If we were legit Jewish, the following day we would have had a bar mitzvah, a day of celebration and blessing, the crossing from boyhood to manhood. I am beginning to understand why that number 13 birthday is so important.

As he slept and had yet to witness the as per usual birthday kitchen decoration and cake for breakfast, I reflected on what the King did some 13 years ago, and I am amazed that I got to be his mama. I’m excited to see what the next 13 years hold for that child of promise. My prayer for that boy is this one, “May the Lord Bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you. May you be all that God desires you to be.”