In Conclusion…

Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared a few different stories with you of how God has surprised me and led me in a totally different direction than I was expecting.

I did this for the following reasons:

1) To write it down. The Beth Moore study that I’m doing right now stresses how important it is to write down the things that God does in your life, so that you will remember, and so that your children will someday read it, and remember it, too.

2) To “build some alters”. In the Old Testament, I love reading about all the times that people built alters in places where God did amazing things in their lives. They would build alters so that if they passed that spot again, they could see a physical reminder of God’s presence in their lives. They could show their children the alter, and tell the story all over again. Other people could see the alter, and know that something significant had happened there.

We do things a bit differently these days – you won’t find too many alters randomly appearing in the fields of Southern Manitoba. But we can still find other ways  of physically reminding ourselves of God’s presence in our lives.

3) To send out some encouragement. I’ve learned long ago that even though people are all different, we still all struggle with a lot of similar things, like doubt, uncertainty, fear of the unknown. I’ve learned that when I can be honest and share about my experiences, so often there’s someone around who can relate, and suddenly we’re together, and don’t have to face that stuff on our own. And we feel a little more normal, just knowing that there’s somebody else going through the same thing. Or something similar.

And all this came at a good time – there’s something in particular that I’m praying about a lot right now, and I have no idea how God is going to answer. Looking back and remembering has been a good reminder to me of God’s faithfulness. I know that He’s going to work in my life once again, even if I don’t know when or how.

Now, as much as I love blogging, sometimes it just feels like a one-way conversation. And right now, I really wish that I could hear other people’s stories of how God led them in a totally surprising direction. Normally that’s what that green “Leave a comment” is for, but I know that so far, people have been fairly shy in the comment area. And that’s okay. So maybe next time you see me in person, tell me a story?!