A dear friend and I were planning a baby shower last week. In an effort to include some of the young girls in our church, I asked a twelve-year-old to bake/cook anything she wanted to contribute to the luncheon/shower. The next day, she told me she would bake cookies. What I didn’t know was that she had a particular cookie in mind. She told my friend that she really wanted to bake duckie cookies, but she didn’t have a duck cookie cutter. Now, we live in a small town. Not one store would be selling duck cookie cutters. But determined to help, my friend went to the thrift store, hoping to somehow come across a duck cookie cutter. You guessed it! There was a duck cookie cutter! (For a quarter). The young girl was surprised and delighted as were all those who were privy to the inside story. God saw a willing, creative heart and provided what she needed via my kind friend.

Several years ago a fellow participant in a painting class shared a story that resonated with me. She was going through a hard season in her life. One grey winter morning she looked out her window and there on a branch near her house was a beautiful, vibrantly red cardinal. Now cardinals were a favorite of hers and the sight of this lovely, bright bird delighted her and lifted her spirits. She immediately felt that God had sent the bird to cheer her and remind her that he cares. She called the experience a God whisper. It reminded me to be alert for God whispers in my life. I know he loves to help his children so he sends us little reminders in our everyday lives that he sees us and is taking care of us.  I think the duck cookie cutter was a God whisper to several of us!

God delights in giving his children custom made encouragements.  He understands our emotions are shifty things, and our faith can be fragile.  So he steps into the details of our lives to give us hope and courage.  Think of Gideon who was given orders to face a formidable and well trained enemy who had seemingly unlimited resources and manpower.  And to make matters worse, all he had to face them with was a rag-tag regimen of 300 untrained, poorly equipped men.  God understood Gideon’s misgivings, so he arranged for a tailor made encouragement session.  He told Gideon to take his assistant and sneak close to the enemy camp just in time to eavesdrop on a telling  conversation between two enemy soldiers.  What they said gave Gideon new strength to obey God and lead the assault that God used to give them the victory and free the nation from oppression.  You and I may not be called to battle an enemy army, but we do have to battle evil in the world and in ourselves.  It can be overwhelming and discouraging, yet at just the right time God will arrange some small encouragement that will give us a boost to keep going.  Sometimes it’s a kind friend who comes alongside and loves on you.  Sometimes it’s an answer to prayer.  Sometimes it’s a cardinal, a duck cookie cutter, or a child’s snuggle.  Sometimes it’s a reprieve from pressure or pain.  Sometimes it’s a Bible verse or Bible teaching.  God knows us so well that he shows us his loving care in perfectly personal ways.

God meets us where we are. The Bible is replete with stories of God coming near to ordinary people in their ordinary lives. God reveals himself as we’re plodding along in our daily grind, minding our own business. And we are changed by the encounter. Abram was an ordinary citizen who may or may not have known about the one true God when God broke into his day-to-day giving him a new direction for his life. Moses was a fugitive prince living in exile as a farmhand when God broke into his quiet life and gave him a history making assignment. Gideon was furtively processing his crop out of sight of enemies when God came to him with a big challenge. Samson’s parents were going about their daily routines when the Lord appeared to them and promised the childless couple a special son. Young David was doing his lowly farm duties for his family when God interrupted via Samuel and set him on course for becoming king. The priest Zachariah was doing his priestly duty when the angel Gabriel appeared to him and informed him of his part in a new chapter of the redemption story. Mary was a normal young woman preparing for her wedding when the angel brought her news that turned her life upside down. The Lord Jesus during his earthly life called his disciples in the busyness of their businesses and they turned the world upside down.  He put himself in the path of the Samaritan woman and she became an evangelist.  He was constantly available to the common people who flocked to him.   Paul was enthusiastically persecuting Christians when the Lord stopped him in his tracks and called him to a demanding new life work. Think of the God encounters in the middle of your normal that changed your life. Maybe one day you realized that what your parents or your church told you about Jesus was true and you decided to put your faith in him which put your life on a different trajectory. Maybe you had wandered away from faith and suddenly you saw how empty your life was and you decided to come back. When I was a typical young teenager just trying to figure out who I was and what I should do with my life, God brought people into my life who challenged me to help those who hadn’t had the same opportunity I did to learn about the Bible. Specifically, those in third world countries. That goal to help those less fortunate guided my decisions about schooling, marriage, and priorities.

God is certainly with us in our happy times, but sometimes we forget to acknowledge him when we’re comfortable. As it turns out, our need is often the place where we meet him. When we’re hurting, we are likely to call out to him and recognize his hand when he helps us. Moses cried out for God’s deliverance from the pursuing Egyptian army, and God made a path through the sea. King David cried out for God’s protection against his enemies and found him faithful over and over. What hard experiences has God brought you through to prove his loving care and power? Both dear husband and I have had health issues recently- his much more serious than mine. But every step of the way, we have seen God’s kind hand and felt his gentle Presence. We’re convinced even more now that God is trustworthy.  We’ve experienced his lovingkindness in personal ways; meals from loving friends, phone calls to check on us, caring family, beautiful sunsets, singing sparrows, helpful Bible teaching from our pastor and others, compassionate, skilled doctors, firewood from a friend, and garden produce from other friends.  Our loving Heavenly Father was the ultimate source of each of these gifts.