God’s Surprises

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God’s Surprises by Helen Leschied

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Often we look to friends and family members to meet our needs instead of to God. When we look to family or friends we’ll inevitably be disappointed. Then self-pity, resentment and bitterness will set in, on both sides.

God knows our needs for love and affirmation and He has infinite ways of meeting them.

At a recent visit, I watched as my daughter was showing a friend some family photos. Great, I thought, until I noticed that there wasn’t a single photo of me. How typical, I thought. Once more I’ve been left out of the collection. Just as I was about to give in to a full dose of self -pity, a beautiful monarch butterfly landed on my lap. It flexed its wings and put on a little show for me.

God, did you send the butterfly to show me that I am loved? I mused. It must be, for I’ve never had it happen before that a monarch butterfly chose my lap as a landing place. As I allowed my thoughts to follow the path of love, the earlier feelings of rejection melted away.

This incident taught me that we have a choice, at any given moment, to focus on the negative or the positive. One leads to frustration and pain, the other leads to freedom and joy.

When I had decided to settle my thoughts on love, a solution to the above problem formed in my mind: I’ll get my camera and ask this friend to take photos of my daughter and me.

~Father, Thank you that You know my weakness and my brokenness and that You have promised to meet all my needs.

Questions: How is God wanting to meet your need right now? It will always come as a surprise, but you must be aware of the moment and latch onto it.