When the Creator Steps In

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“Mom, will you clean off this rock for me?”  My young son had rushed inside from playing with his friends, and plopped another rock on the counter as I finished washing up the dishes.  He was off again, before I could ask him why he was unable to wash his own rock. “Oh why not,” I thought. The dishwater was still hot & soapy, so I plunged the plain looking grey rock into the suds.  As I pulled it out and turned it over, the image engraved there by the Master Creator took my breath away.

 

It had been a hard day. One of those kinds that feels like the bottom might fall out of your world at any moment. We were living on a shoestring budget, trying to obey the Lord, but answers seemed so far away. I was deeply involved in praying for a dear friend who was going through struggles of her own at the time. But for reasons long forgotten now, I had said hurtful words to my husband in the midst of all of the struggles. He was crushed and I was heartbroken.

 

How would I ever figure out this “walking with God life?” If I couldn’t even love my own husband, how could I ever expect to fully love and pray for those around me?

 

The enemy’s taunts swirled around me, and I couldn’t decipher the truth of God from the enemy’s lies. In the midst of my agonizing questions, the friend I was praying for stopped by with a song for me. She knew I was praying for her, but she had been praying for ME also.  And while neither one of us had any answers for the other, the song she gave me pointed us each back to the true foundation of our Lord:

 

 

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Psalm 46:1-5 NIV

 

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After my friend went home, I continued to ponder the words of those Scriptures, with the melody of the song flooding my heart.  I felt God’s arms holding me up and pointing the way to Him. But how could I be sure that I would choose to love again? What if I hurt my husband again tomorrow, or the next day? When would I ever get this loving thing right?

And that is when my son rushed in and dropped the rock on the counter. What was the image that was carved onto the other side, not seen until the dirt was washed away?

 

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I wept as I thought of the beauty and kindness of my Lord. How long had that rock lay buried in the dirt outside our home? Since the beginning of creation? But my Heavenly Father, who had created the roaring rivers and majestic mountains was so intimately involved with my own world that He had placed that rock in this very place for my own son to find on this very day. He had known the promise I would need.

 

God is within me, and I will not fall.

He is the ONE who will bring HIS love to me.

 

That son is now over 30, living on the other side of the world, following the prompting of the Lord with his own family now.  But there’s one thing I have learned after all these years: God is capable of dealing with my imperfections and my weaknesses.  He will bring the loving and the transforming that I need.

 

Even today, in a season that feels so far removed from the rock-finding day,

Jesus is still my solid rock.

 

“So this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who relies on it
    will never be stricken with panic.”

Isaiah 28:16 NIV

 

Has the Creator ever stepped into your everyday life with a miracle of His creation? I would love to hear your stories, and I would love to pray for you in the midst of your struggles too.

 

I am linking with:

#LMMLinkup

#Tellhisstory

#Teaandword

#Grace&Truth

 

 

 

Published by Bettie G

Jesus follower, Wife, Mom, and Grandma, journeying through chronic illness one day at a time

Published

35 thoughts on “When the Creator Steps In”

    1. Thank you dear friend for your sweet words! Yes, our God is so powerful, and so intimately involved in the moments of our lives! I echo your thoughts to “never doubt Him, never ever to think we cannot be helped.” Blessings and love to you!

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  3. Bettie, this is so beautiful and so like our Father to know what we need when we need it. There are no chance happenings. God used your little son to show you His love. Blessings, love and hugs to you, my dear sister! xoxo

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    1. Dear Gayl,
      Yes you are so right, that there are no chance happenings with our Father. I love it that you and I were both thinking about the precious childlike heart that God sees, as we wrote our posts this week. He loves that simplicity that gets to the heart of the matter, doesn’t He? Blessings, love, and hugs to you too, dear sister! xoxo

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  4. Wow, that rock preached a powerful sermon. I happen to be working on a podcast about a rock my husband found. It won’t go live for a few weeks. Your lovely rock post confirms His message to me.
    Blessings – Wendy 🕊️

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    1. Oh Wendy, I love it when God confirms His message to us in that way. And your thoughts confirmed in me His precious stirring as well. I will be looking forward to hearing your story, dear friend! Those “rock sermons” are some of the best aren’t they? 🙂 Blessings and hugs to you.

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  5. God has shown His love for me in so many ways. Even through breast cancer in 2005, blessings were found. God is always showing me special messages. I just need to pause and be open to finding those blessings.

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    1. Oh I love the ways that He finds to bring us His blessings. You are so right though, that we need to be open to receive those blessings that He has waiting for us. I just read your beautiful story about pausing in the rain, and then seeing the coins that had been offered. You could have easily missed that moment of kindness if you had not paused! May I open my heart to receive those nudges to pause as well. Blessings to you!

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  7. Bettie, I love when He takes our breath away in awe and wonder. I had a little neighbor girl give me a rock in the shape of a heart and it was perfect for a post I was writing. He is so awesome and intimate with us!

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    1. Yes, He is so awesome and intimate with us! I love how He stepped in like that for you also, and had your little neighbor girl bless you with a heart-shaped rock. Thank you for sharing your story here, Christina! Blessings to you

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  9. The Lord explains in his Word how even the heathen can see the proof of His power through his handiwork. It is a blessing to come face to face with His All Sufficiency when we are in the middle of focusing on ourselves. Maybe we should all keep a lovely rock by our kitchen sink. LOL!

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    1. Oh Linda, I love that thought, to keep this rock right next to my sink now too. I have it with a collection of other rocks that God has used to speak His promises into my life, but maybe I will move it for a while. What an amazing Creator who brings His power and proof of handiwork to all of us, that we could see Him! And yes, I pray that I will keep looking up to see His sufficiency even here in the midst of these days also. Blessings, love, and hugs to you!

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    1. Yes, Jennifer, it is a memorial stone, isn’t it? Memories to keep me looking up to Jesus for all that I need. I do have that rock saved, it is a treasure. Thanks for your kind words, and for stopping by here! Blessings!

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    1. Oh, I am so thankful that Jesus would use this simple story to bless you just when you needed to hear Him. He is so good to meet us that way, isn’t He? I am still leaning on His promises to help me too. Blessings to you!

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    1. Thank you for visiting here today, Anita. I look forward to reading about your journey as well! Our Lord is truly so good to join our hearts in following Him. Blessings to you!

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  13. Bettie, this is beautiful. Isn’t He just amazingly incomprehensibly good to us?

    And yes? In the midst of widowhood, in the dark places, there was a leaf on a walking trail that was perfectly heart-shaped. And right now, in a season that is about pruning and sanctification which, let’s be honest, HURTS, He is blessing me with the most incredible sunsets… sunsets that even my nearly-blind eyes can still see.

    Oh, how I love Him!

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    1. Oh, Shelby, yes, our God is just so very good to us! I love how He placed that leaf there on the trail, knowing exactly where you would be walking, to bless you with His hope. And now what a gift that He is shining HIs light though those beautiful sunsets for you. You are in my prayers dear sister, as He walks you through this season of pruning also. He truly walks with us in the midst of these hard times, and covers us with His love. Blessings to you!

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  14. Bettie, I love how this story ends and still endures as a testament to God’s goodness and grace. It’s such a beautiful illustration, like all that you share! But oh how I was taken back to the many, many times when my heart sighed like this: “What if I hurt my husband again tomorrow, or the next day? When would I ever get this loving thing right?” It’s been a thorny journey trying to do just that and to heal from the pain of my past. And even now the enemy seeks to destroy the peace we have finally secured after more than 40 years together. Tokens and memorial stones definitely help us to remember God’s faithfulness, don’t they? Love and hugs to you, dear friend! xoxo

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  15. Dear Joy,
    Oh, it’s so lovely to see you here–I appreciate your comments so much! That enemy really does try to destroy the peace that God works in our relationships, doesn’t he? I am so thankful that our Lord finds ways to keep us looking up to Him, even through memorial stones that He has sent our way. When I look back over the difficulties, I am so in awe of the ways that He was always there to hold us and lift us back up. His Faithfulness is such an encouragement to us here, giving us His love when ours falls so short. Love and hugs to you too, dear friend! xoxo

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  16. It’s amazing how one small rock can change everything. I feel like God shares little love notes with me often when I am out walking. A lot of my writing is inspired from my walks. Thank you for sharing your words at #TellHisStory.

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    1. Dear Mary,
      Oh yes, I love those little love notes our Father shares with us. I am so touched when you share with us the moments from your walking. You always have such inspiring thoughts to speak from there. And thank you for the beautiful linkup that you share over at #TellHisStory. I appreciate your caring heart so much!

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  17. Oh, dear friend! This is just so beautiful! I, too, have had the dear Lord keep pointing out hearts to me. One time, He allowed me to find that the five-pound bag of potatoes I had bought at the grocery contained heart-shaped potatoes. I couldn’t believe it and wrote a post about it. Another time, our dear son was playing in the river and found a heart-shaped rock for my husband and me. It was just amazing. There have been other sightings, with the most recent one being the shadows of hearts on the wall from a tart warmer night light. The light openings are not heart-shaped, but when they hit the wall, for some reason they show up as hearts. I even took a picture of them and have been contemplating doing a post about them. This always happens when I am going through something very difficult, and God makes a point to make it noticeable. He is SO faithful. Thank you for sharing this precious story, and to know that your dear son is serving Jesus all these years later is just so encouraging. You are a wonderful mother and friend and blessing in so many ways. God bless you and hold you close today, dear friend.

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    1. Dear Cheryl,
      Oh what precious glimpses our Lord has given to you my friend! I love how you shared that “God makes a point to make it noticeable.” Isn’t that so true? We could easily just skim past those gifts if we weren’t slowing down enough to take notice. God really is so faithful to us. I would love to read your post about the heart-shaped potatoes! What a special gift from the Lord. I am so thankful that you are so willing to share your stories with us, my friend. You bring such encouragement to us as you point us back to Jesus through your writing. And I am so blessed by your love and friendship! Blessings, love and hugs to you today!

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