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This Story Will Give You Goosebumps (The Good Kind)

by | 39 comments

Did you know that God has words to speak to you?

Today. Now. Right smack-dab in the middle of whatever you’re going through.

Words that will bring life and light and freedom and joy. Words that will breathe hope and restore faith.

You see, God uses multiple ways to get our attention and stir our hunger to know him.

The Lord used an inside voice when calling Samuel as a young boy, but an outside one for Moses on top of Mount Sinai. Not only does God use prophets and poets to communicate his heart, but he speaks through years of feast and famine. Jesus employs fish and loaves as well as fields and flocks to teach the deeper truths of God.

We shouldn’t be surprised when God uses colorful ways to get our attention, too.

God may use gardening to reveal an insight about the cultivation of faith in our lives, or waiting for a wave on a surfboard to teach patience. God uses children and grandchildren to reveal what it means to grow in dependence on God and remind us of the simplicity of faith. The possibilities are endless.

This reminds me of my friend, Marj. I met Marj at a conference this spring, and she shared this amazing story of God speaking to her in an unusual way:

We were in the middle of a horrible winter in Cincinnati with lots of snow and ice. I am terrified of driving in the snow. I avoid it at all costs.

My Bible study class was on Thursday morning, bright and early. On this particular day, ice and snow coated all the roads, and schools had been cancelled.

To make matters worse, I live at the bottom of a huge hill. As I was deciding whether I wanted to chance attending the Bible study class or not, I had to let my dog out.

When I opened the front door, I looked down and saw this arrow pointing down my driveway.

I instantly felt the presence of God like I had never felt it before. I was Wonderstruck! I knew instantly that I should go to my class and that I would be safe driving to and from, and I was. I felt an unbelievable calm at that very moment. It took my breath away.

God uses colorful and unexpected ways to communicate to His people.

God speaks to some people through dreams. One of the most famous dreamers of the Bible is Joseph. As a teenager, he had a dream that he was going to be greater than his brothers. He foolishly told them about the dream, and they were angry at him for it. Joseph’s story is full of loss, heartache, imprisonment, wrongful accusations, and pain. Yet the dream God gave Joseph still came true.

God speaks through visions. Some of God’s people actually saw images that were from God. Both Ezekiel and Daniel received visions from God, recorded in the Old Testament, and Paul and John received them and recorded them in the New Testament.

God speaks through miracles. When the Israelites found themselves pinned up against the Red Sea with the Egyptian armies rushing toward them and nowhere to go, God opened up the Red Sea as a display of His power and love (Ex. 14).

God speaks through His Word (2 Tim. 3:16) and through the inner, still, small voice of the Holy Spirit (Acts 11:12; 13:2).

Though we may be tempted to try to put God and His voice in a box, Scripture reminds us that God will go to great and amazing lengths to speak with each of us.

[Tweet “God will go to great and amazing lengths to speak with each of us. #SacredEcho”]

This week on Facebook and Twitter, we asked this question:

Has God ever used something unusual or unexpected to get your attention?

Gather. As we gather for the Summer Bible Study, let’s discuss this question:

Like Marj, has God ever used something unexpected to get your attention? I’d love to hear your story. Feel free to share in the comments below.

*Join us right back here at MargaretFeinberg.com on Monday to start week 3 as we discuss waiting on God. You won’t want to miss it.

39 Comments

  1. Iris
    Iris on June 11, 2014 at 9:54 am

    Hi Margaret, last year –before Easter, I wrote an article saying that Christ’s resurrection symbolised our eternal life, but also the hope that God would make our personal winters bloom. It was published Easter Sunday. When I woke up that day and stepped outside, the entire ledge of the fence in my father’s house was full of flowers. They had bloomed overnight.

  2. Margaret
    Margaret on June 11, 2014 at 11:21 am

    Wow. That story certainly gave me goosebumps, Iris! Amazing.

  3. Karlee Corder
    Karlee Corder on June 11, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    Last October I was feeling the weight of financial burden so I made the decision to go back to work full time after working part time for the last several years. I was hesitant as I wasn’t sure how this would affect my kids and family life in general. There have been many days where I’ve felt like I’m doing a lot, but not doing anything well. My husband has had to step in when I can’t to pick up kids, go to games, help with homework, ect. and my house has been dirtier than it’s ever been! I’ve had to give up a lot (of control), but through that I’ve gained much dependence on God. He’s met me in my weakness and over and over again, He’s shown me how to prioritize and that He is ultimately in control of my life. There are days when I feel like an ultimate failure in the parenting department but God repeatedly echoes His love for me when I need it most. Just in the last month, all three of my children have been recognized at their schools for their character, leadership, and academic achievements, none of which I can take the credit for because I’ve been less present than ever. I am blown away by God’s generosity and care for me and give Him all the glory. He’s spoken to me through my weariness and insufficiency and repeatedly reminds me that He loves me, He cares for me, and He is with me. #OnlyJesus

  4. Margaret
    Margaret on June 11, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    “He’s spoken to me through my weariness and insufficiency and repeatedly reminds me that He loves me, He cares for me, and He is with me.” Amen. Rejoicing alongside you, Karlee.

  5. Margaret
    Margaret on June 11, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    I love hearing the ways God is at work in your lives! Just this week I received this email from Michelle:

    “I have suffered from bouts of depression much of my adult life. Sometimes I managed it with medication, rebellion, prayers, and now mostly with joy & sunshine. One summer, I was hit by the hardest wall of darkness ever. Out of desperation I sat on my porch looking out at my bird feeders (bird lover) and I cried out loud to God exactly this,” Father I am so blue. Please help me.”

    The moment I opened my blurry, teary eyes I saw the most beautiful blue bird I had ever seen. I had to look it up in a book because it wasn’t like anything I had ever seen. It was an Indigo Bunting. Stunning! I knew God had heard me. That bird rarely even migrates to my part of North Carolina & I’ve been watching birds for a long time. He & his mate nested near by and I saw him daily for the entire summer. He was my constant reminder that I serve a living God. My depression eased off and they left by fall.”

    #goosebumps

  6. Ro elliott
    Ro elliott on June 11, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    My story isn’t so spectacular … but living wonderstruck… I don’t want to overlook the everyday ways He speaks to me… A couple of weeks ago I was at the beach( I think God hangs out at the beach in a big way 😉 … each morning I rose early to communion with Him…as I sat on the beach and watched the sun rise.. always there… never fails to rise… just like His new mercies each morning… as sure as the sun rising…. it was just a beautiful picture of His faithfulness…and as I watched the ocean waves consistently wash the sand…this was a beautiful picture of His Love… always washing over me…sometimes gentle…sometimes strong…but always with His consistent love.

  7. Margaret
    Margaret on June 11, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    Has God ever used something unexpected to get your attention?

    This question reminds me of the time a few adorable little deer stopped me in my tracks:

    http://margaretfeinberg.com/slow-today/

  8. Margaret
    Margaret on June 11, 2014 at 1:13 pm

    I love that example, Ro. May we all continue to live with eyes wide open to the ways God wants to get our attention.

    And I think you’re right, God definitely hangs out by the beach and on mountain tops. 🙂

  9. kim
    kim on June 11, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    I had been planning & training for a trek the Grand Canyon. Half way thru my training I was met with a great personal crisis. Because my heart was so heavy I often found the training therapeutic. The hours were spent praying, crying and seeing God’s hand in the world around me. The trip was booked and then due to a permit problem it was changed from the Bright Angle Trail with a stay at Phantom Ranch to a trip down to a camp site known as Cremation Canyon. The hike proved to be emotionally more difficult then it was physically (and trust me, physically it was no cake walk). About a mile from our camp site I collapsed in a full blown anxiety attack. Laying there on the canyon floor feeling the vastness of the desert, the scripture “Have You brought us into this wilderness to die?” flowed through my mind, followed quickly by the response, “Yes, but not in the way that you think.” As our conversation continued I came to realize my itinerary was changed for a devine reason…it spread the ashes of my life before the Lord on the basin of Cremation Canyon and allow Him to give me the strength to rise above the rim like a phoenix.

  10. Carol
    Carol on June 11, 2014 at 5:49 pm

    I was in my 20s and I was standing at the gravesite of my mother right after her funeral. All the others had gone, except my husband. I was feeling really low since she was my best friend. I looked up in the sky on this bright, sunny day and saw a cloud in the exact shape of her silhouette, unmistakable since she always wore her hair done up, with the sun shining brightly behind it. I knew at that moment it was a message from God saying things were going to be ok.

  11. Carol
    Carol on June 11, 2014 at 5:55 pm

    I was in my 20s and I was standing at the gravesite of my mother right after her funeral. All the others had gone, except my husband. I was feeling really low since she was my best friend. I looked up in the sky on this bright, sunny day and saw a cloud in the exact shape of her silhouette, unmistakable since she always wore her hair done up, with the sun shining brightly behind it. I knew at that moment that it was a message from God saying things were going to be ok.

  12. Margaret
    Margaret on June 12, 2014 at 9:56 am

    Goosebumps. What an incredible testimony, Kim. Thank you for sharing your story.

  13. Margaret
    Margaret on June 12, 2014 at 9:57 am

    Wow- Amazing to hear the plethora of ways God chooses to communicate to us. May we all have ears to hear and eyes to see God revealing himself to us in our midst. Thanks, Carol.

  14. Amy
    Amy on June 12, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    I had a word from God to speak at a local event about how God cares about the smallest, tiniest detail of a person’s life. When the event grew closer, I began to question if that is what I really should say. As I sat at work with my radio tuned to a Christian radio station, I heard Joni Tada speaking about the camps they hold for families with children with disabilities. As I asked God if I was for sure to say what I thought He had told me to say, Joni said “We like to tell these families that God cares about the smallest, tiniest details in their lives.” I smiled. Got it, God. In fact the entire short speech flowed effortlessly from my pen barely half an hour before I left to go to the event. It was as though I was dictating what He was telling me to say. 🙂

  15. Margaret
    Margaret on June 13, 2014 at 9:19 am

    I love that story, Amy. May we continue to lean in and listen for God’s nudges throughout our day.

  16. kimberly
    kimberly on June 15, 2014 at 7:57 pm

    I loved reading all these comments! Thanks for sharing

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