Watch for GOD!

This morning I was searching for hair bows for my 4-year-old daughter ...who was in tears because she did not want to go to school… BUT concerned all the while that her hair was just so, with the perfect bows for her two perfect pigtails (we girls feel better in any situation when we know our hair looks great). While searching for  two matching bows inside a bucket of bows, barrettes and other items for little girls hair, I found this bracelet.

I am not sure where the bracelet came from… I am thinking a halloween treat since it is purple and orange but I cannot be sure. But when I found it, I was desperately trying to think of ways and words to comfort my daughter who is still, after week 3 of school, so uncomforted by the absence of my presence during the school day. I wanted the bracelet to say “God is Watching” or “God is with you” so I could put it in her book bag as a reminder and for comfort (it was too big for her to wear on her tiny wrist)… but instead, it said “Watch for God”, so I slid it on my own arm and finished putting the matching bows in my sweet little girls adorable pigtails. A glance in the mirror, and she perked up a bit!

Back at home, after the dramatic dropping off of my sad 4-year-old, I start reading the book of Romans in the Bible. I have been studying the Apostle Paul’s books and letters recently and this is the next book on my list of books by him to study (I skipped around, read the short ones first..bible order not chronologically... and now I am going back to his ever important first one). When I got to verse 20 in chapter 1 I read this:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
I stopped reading at the end of chapter 1, realizing that this was going to not be the one-day read in the way I proudly conquered Paul’s letters. After reading Chapter 1, I just needed to stop and ponder. The chapter ends with verse 32 but my attention was drawn back to verse 20. I looked at the bracelet that I had slipped on my writst earlier and said… uh hu, yep, okay… there it is!

In the amazing way it always works, God uses what seems pretty much meaningless or confusing and connects the dots to send us messages when we read His word.
Sometimes I get so caught up in my day-to-day routine with my children and my life that I forget to look around and see that God is not invisible! I don’t need to rearrange a message on a bracelet to fit my situation but to be reminded to stop take a breath and look around at the evidence of his existence surrounding me. Look at the things of this world that he has made. I am reminded that there are no excuses for his eternal and divine nature to not be clearly seen by me… that these things have been surrounding us since creation.

And in that verse and that message on this bracelet truly is the message that I needed to comfort my child, myself and even you today. Without rearranging the words… READ: Watch for God… and you will find that the message is that he surrounds you with His comfort, His grace and His love. All you have to do is look around… God is Watching, God is with you… it says all of these things and much more.

Watch for God
reading Romans & connecting the dots

love,
Andrea