Finding God.
Late in the year of 2013, I came in from working in our yard. I had been raking and blowing leaves. As I came into our house, all of sudden my heart and stomach sank in distress. Blood shot all through my body as I quickly became aware that my wedding ring was not on my finger. I remember feeling quickly sad, sick to my stomach and concerned. I began frantically searching everywhere around our house and our yard. I really had no idea when or where I had lost it. It could have been anywhere. A continued feeling of sickness and disappointment kept flooding me. I told Lea with great sadness when she arrived back home and we continued to look and look and couldn’t find it. We prayed and waited and kept looking. Sadly, after a number of days, I decided that it was time to get another ring. So much loss. I was aware that it wouldn’t be the same because it wouldn’t be the ring that Lea gave me on our wedding day, but I wanted to have a wedding ring so I would have to get a new one. Lea and I decided that we would have a simple little ceremony on Christmas Eve night with our sons and that would be a special memory even though there was sadness about me losing my ring. I received the new ring in the mail, but did not put it on so that Lea could place it on my finger at our special family ceremony. I slowly grieved the loss and asked God to help me to receive the new ring.
Several days before Christmas Eve, I was in our backyard doing some more yard work and as I was working in one part of our yard I looked down and something caught my eye. My eye caught a quick flash of light from something laying in the dirt. My ring! I found my ring! I found my ring! I ran around our backyard with so much energy pulsing through my heart and body. I was so excited. I was so joyful. I just kept thanking God for helping me to find it. "Oh, thank you God, thank you God, thank you God!" No one was home at the time. I then, had an idea. I got the new ring box and I took out the new ring and placed my original ring that I had just found in the ring box and had it ready for our Christmas Eve celebration. Later that day, I quietly told my son Trent that I had found it because I had to share my joyful news with someone, but not to anyone else. Christmas Eve came and we gathered with our sons in our living room and prepared for our quiet ring ceremony. The time came for Lea to take the new ring out of the ring box. As she opened the box I could tell that she realized that it wasn’t a shiny new ring and she was puzzled (that exact moment pictured above) and I grabbed the ring box and I started running up and down our hallway shouting, “I found it! I found it! I found it!” As the adrenaline joy kicked in, I then told the rest of my family the story of how God helped me find my original ring and there was joy and laughter and tears of thanksgiving. I found my ring. And Lea put my original ring back on my finger. Taylor sang and our boys prayed over us. We were so thankful.
Think about what it’s like to find something really special. A really special gift. Something you lost. A surprise visit from a family member.
Or maybe when a baby is born.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
You will find a baby.
You will find a baby.
Finding God.
The bible book of Jeremiah, chapter 29 and verses 13 and 14 say this. "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord."
Finding God. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.
Author Larry Crabb wrote these words in the introduction of a book he penned entitled, “Finding God”. “Let me tell you why I wrote this book. I have come to a place in my life where I need to know God more or I won’t make it. Life at times has a way of throwing me into such blinding confusion and severe pain that I lose all hope. Joy is gone. Nothing encourages me. Perhaps the most important lesson I learn as I go through dark seasons is this: there is no escape in this life from pain and problems. I can live obediently, practice spiritual disciplines and claim my identity in Christ, but problems still continue. More than anything else, I need a person to trust, someone who can give hope, joy and peace in the midst of life’s unpredictable struggles. A plan to follow is not enough. Without someone to trust I must either pretend things are better than they are or live to relieve my own pain. The rhetoric we’re all used to…”just trust the Lord, pray more, get counseling, follow God’s plan more carefully”.... these must give way to the reality of finding God.”
Oh dear heart. He can be found by us.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Finding God.
Can it be real?
Oh yes. Living in Christmastide.
There's more.