Are we missing God's miracles in our lives?

That's what I want to talk about today.

And then some ways that we can make sure we are paying attention to how God is moving in our lives.

Hey.

Hey beautiful friends.

And welcome back to Faithfield Woman.

This is your host, Kristen.

I actually wanted to share a little bit of a really thought provoking post that Mr. Dave Butler posted.

He is the podcast host of Don't Miss this study.

But what I love about it is, is he's talking about Exodus 14:21 and he says that that might be one of the most iconic miracles in the Bible, right?

Splitting of the Red Sea.

But what he says is a staff into water, walls of ocean rising, a movie worthy moment, proof that this is the God of wonders who can do anything, anything, anytime, anywhere.

But then he explains that that's actually not exactly how it happened because the Bible actually says, at least it says this, the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night.

But what he explains is, did you notice that all night long, not a flash of divine spectacle, but a slow, steady, almost unnoticeable breeze through the dark?

And he says that much like that, right?

How it actually happened.

And not saying that God could not have made it happen a different way, but that is how it's explained in the Bible.

But the Hebrew word for wind, he says is, I'm going to probably say this wrong, it's ruch, which also means spirit and breath.

But basically he explains it's a gentle power and it's almost invisible hand of God.

But he says when, when the Israelites were in their moment of greatest fear, perhaps they didn't even know God was working for them, right?

They were probably worried and thinking, I don't know how we're going to get to safety.

But it was actually during the night that he was making the sea part.

And so what's so amazing is, you know, he says it doesn't, it didn't look like a miracle at first, but it was every quiet moment of it.

And he says if you're stuck in your own Red Sea moment, is it possible that God hasn't forgotten you, that he's actually moving in your life?

And he says gently, hour by hour through your night, breathing life and making the way forward, your miracle slowly breaking through until that one day when you will stand on dry ground.

And I just thought it's so good and this is so right is do we live in a time and as part of culture where we're used to Hollywood movie spectacles, we're used to things happening in a flash on the big screen.

So have we come to expect that if God is making a miracle happen in our life, that it is going to be big and loud and obvious?

Have we forgotten that he can work slowly?

He can.

He is always working for our good.

He's always weaving together our story, right?

He is bringing all things together.

Divine appointments, divine interactions, all the things.

And so I just thought that was a really good reminder that we have to remember that sometimes it seems slow in our human perception, right?

We are not seeing him move while the movement's happening.

Sometimes we don't see that there is movement, that God is with us, and that he is doing something for us.

And I think one of the best ways to remember this is, is to write down the things you're praying for, right?

So either use a prayer journal, a notebook, right, that you can go back in and look, or keep a.

In one of those notebooks or journals, keep a section in it that's like not just your prayer journal where you write, right?

Maybe scripture or prayers or what you're grateful for, but a section that's what prayers are you praying for.

And it's to go back regularly and read over those prayers and write down when a prayer has been answered, write down when it was answered and what happened.

Because one way that we're going to see God work in our life is when we go back and we reflect when we're reminded of how he's moving.

Because it is easy in the fast pace that too many of us live in to remember all the things that have worked for our good, all the things that God is making sure happens for us, right?

That he's protecting us, that he's blessing us, that he's providing for us.

You know, all these things that he's brought someone through, something that he's given us, people to surround us, community, support, all of these things.

He has opened doors.

And I just think it's really important.

And so I'm going to read you actually what Exodus 14:21 says, at least, you know, one of the versions, and it says, and Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry, land and the waters were divided.

So besides writing out your prayers and going back and like writing down when they're answered, or even if they're not answered, written, write down where you're seeing him move, you know, so it's partially answered.

But another thing is, is, are we believing God and that he can move in miraculous ways?

He can move however he wants.

Are we believing that he can answer our prayers no matter how difficult or troubling they are to us?

To him, it is very small.

Right?

But we have to remember who he is and what he's capable of.

And I wanted to share this quote with you.

I don't know who said it, but Jules Horn is the one that shared it.

And he said, I just fell in love with this quote.

It says, I asked God for flowers and he gave me rain.

Think about that so many times.

We're looking for the flowers.

We're looking for the miracle that's already happened instead of realizing that God is moving in a way that's going to make it even more amazing.

But it's going to take time for the flowers to grow, whether they're from seed or whether they're just not bloomed yet.

And so I think that's so important.

And I saw something the other day that reminded me of this.

It said, bamboo takes five years to go from, you know, I guess, the seed, or underground to break the surface.

Five years.

But once it breaks the surface in five weeks, it can grow.

I think it said 90ft.

Oh, here, let me see what it says.

Okay.

It says yes.

Okay.

So five years for bamboo to break the surface but ground.

And then once it breaks through, it grows up to 90ft tall in five weeks.

And I loved what Travis Hearn was saying about it because he says, where's the payout?

Where's the payoff?

Where's the fruit?

Because we're thinking, it didn't work.

If we have to wait five years for something which absolutely.

Things in our life can take years, it can take decades, they can take a lifetime.

But so many times we're waiting for the miracle.

We're waiting for the breakthrough.

We're waiting to see God move in our lives.

And what we don't know is he's been moving the whole time.

And so Travis goes on to say, what if we are in year four and a half and we still aren't believing that God's moving?

We might want to just quit, right?

Give up, stop yet it's right there.

Soon after that is when God's doing his work and the breakthroughs coming.

So we have to stay faithful.

We have to remember that God is working miracles in our life, but they don't happen on our timeline.

We have to remember that God is moving and things are happening, but there's going to be seasons of preparation.

There's going to be seasons of waiting.

There's going to be seasons of being patient.

There's going to be seasons of us needing to grow.

There's seasons of us needing to be pruned.

And until those things happen, we will not be lined up to see the miracle.

Look at the rainbow in the sky.

We don't see from our humanly perspective the rainbow until typically the rain stops, right?

The rain is watering the earth.

It is giving the plants and nature what it needs, filling the streams up.

But we don't see the miracle of the rainbow until after the storm or the rain passes.

And so I think we have to keep remembering in our own lives fruit is being produced even when the final piece of fruit isn't here, isn't finished.

I garden over the years, I'm still getting better at it.

I'm surely not quite an expert yet, but I'm great at growing herbs.

And every year I add to my herb gardens and medicinal herbs I have.

This year I've added a lot more flowers so that I can have fresh cut flowers in my house.

I mean, I buy them in the store too.

But I continue to try to grow, you know, vegetables and other things like that.

I do well with some and I'm still getting better at other vegetables or I have grown them in certain spots, but now it's gotten too shady.

So I'm having to readjust where I grow tomatoes and things.

So my yield isn't always what I want.

But every day I go out and see what has grown in the garden, what has matured.

And it's the most exciting thing when you move a tomato plant around and all of a sudden you see this huge tomato that you didn't notice before, that's not quite ready, but you're like, I didn't even see it growing because it was hidden behind so much of the vegetation.

And that's what I'm getting at is sometimes we, when we watch it grow day by day, we don't see the change.

But other times, and then we're surprised when we find something like that.

But the whole time that tomato was growing, right, the tomato plant was getting everything it needed from the earth and from me, right?

The little bit I was doing to help it.

And it did what it's supposed to.

But the miracle of that fruit, of that produce took time.

Garlic takes about nine months to go from that one clove into a whole garlic head.

That's a long time to wait for a garlic clove.

But I Tell you when you dig it up out of the ground, you're so excited that this clove turned into an entire garlic head.

But I have to be patient.

I have to wait and I have to start seeing the signs.

But of what?

Part of the process, of the growing process is the garlic in.

And different garlic have different kind of telltales, if you will.

So that is the same with our life.

We have to be looking for the stories.

We have to be looking for the moments that God is working even before the miracle is answered.

And I also think it's important to remember sometimes what we're asking for and what God gives us looks different.

But it's because he knows our whole story.

He knows where he's directing us and that bigger or better things are coming, things we couldn't even imagine, possibly.

And so we might be asking for something, but he is going to give us something so much better.

But when that will happen, only he knows.

And so today I just wanted to encourage you and I thought it was important to remind you, remind all of us that sometimes we can get discouraged.

Sometimes we are waiting and praying for a miracle for days, for weeks, for months, for years, for decades.

And we don't see him working in our life.

Or we don't see why he hasn't given us the miracle, why he says not yet, or why he says no, not now, or why he says, I'm not giving you this because there's something so much better coming to you that you don't see yet.

And so I just wanted to remind you, because that spoke to me that so often, while God could make something happen in an instant, right in our human perspective, he's working on a different timeline.

And we don't always see it or understand it in our, you know, small human perspective.

So until next time, I hope you have a great day.

I hope you got something out of this.

And if you haven't already, head over to my website, KristinFitch.com I have a 15 day joyful devotional you can grab off of my freebies page.

I hope you have a great week.

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