God's timing

My small group is studying the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. We have noticed that the recurring theme is: be in tune with God so you can hear His voice and be ready for an assignment from Him. I think we sometimes miss the little "assignments" because we are waiting to hear the "big assignment". I think God wants us to hear (or experience) the little things so we will slow down and appreciate what He has given us.

I experienced one of those "little assignments" Monday night when we came home from work. I am always in a hurry when I come home from work. I have so many things I think I need to do, I'm usually hungry, and there are other things that just can't wait. Monday night when I pulled into the garage I saw something strange hanging on the bricks on the outside of the house so I went out to investigate. (I am not an outside kind of person so I really was going out on a limb so-to-speak!) I forgot about everything else that I thought I had to do because at that moment God gave me something wonderful to experience.

In all of my years on this earth I have never seen a locust wiggle out of its shell. I have seen the empty shells many times but never the locust and never the actual transformation. God put that little bug on exactly the right brick of my house so I would see it when I pulled into the garage. I was paying attention to God and He allowed me to see something very cool and amazing. I wanted to document the event so I took my phone out of my pocket and started taking pictures of this beautiful green bug wiggling out of an ugly brown shell.

I cannot even begin to tell you how awesome this was to experience. God takes us out of our ugly shells and transforms us into something beautiful. I can hear you saying how ugly you think this bug is but think about it. The greens and yellows were such a surprise coming from the ugly darkness of the brown shell (the bug's previous life).

God blesses us with beauty all around us if we will only take the time to hear His voice and to look at what He wants to show us. I also took this picture on Monday night. This beautiful Stargazer Lily is one of many blooms in my flower bed. From this picture you are not able to tell that this beautiful flower is blooming in the midst of a flower bed full of volunteer trees; so many trees that it is difficult to tell where the flowers are.

God rescues us from ugly brown shells or from forests of volunteer trees and transforms us into beautiful creations if we will only listen to His voice. Take time this week to listen to God's voice and see what amazing things he has in store for you.