God Shows Up in the Strangest Ways . . . Even in My Checkbook!

It's been an interesting day. Anybody out there? An interesting day. And God, as He does so well, showed up at the exact right moment, not too soon and not too late. But the funny thing? He showed up in my checkbook. Let me back up . . . a little flashback here.

Not to bore you, let me just say that today was one of those days when Satan went on the attack. And let me just say that there have been a lot of those days lately. In fact, early this afternoon, I found myself thinking the absolutely ridiculous thought that maybe I'm just too tired to keep fighting him. Now, I know better. After all, this is The Tenacious Life blog, right? I know better. But today things came to a head. He loves to discourage me where my church is concerned, and he was working overtime on that one yesterday. He also loves to hit me hard with my children, trying to convince me that God is not in charge. Well, today he attacked, and attacked, and attacked, and I knew I had to reach up to God and defeat Satan once and for all, at least for today. So, as one of my Tenacious Life tips suggests, I headed out to ride my lawn mower. I find a lot of peace there, and I often feel a strong connection to God as I focus on nature and on the peace of riding in the sun. As I was talking to God and riding, I saw something on the ground, and I almost didn't stop to pick it up, but changed my mind at the last moment. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather . . . it was my checkbook . . . not just any checkbook, but one that I lost last December and for which I have been looking for nine months! There it was, just lost in the grass. Now you need to know that I cut the grass on a regular basis. That checkbook was not there a week ago, a month ago, or even a day ago. And do you know what that checkbook cover said? "For I know the plans I have for you, . . ." You know the rest . . . plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans for a hope and a future. Good old Jeremiah. But better than that . . . faithful God. He knew I needed to hear that scripture, and He might as well have given me an audible voice today. I knew immediately, without question, that He was sending me a clear and powerful message: I am still in charge, Jean, and I have plans for you and yes, for your children. Enough said.

I can't tell you that the day was perfect after that, but I can tell you this: some things happened that called on me to be strong and to trust God with my words and the people I love most, and I trusted Him. I could have found that checkbook on any other day, but as usual, God's precision made sure I found it at exactly the right moment . . . the moment when I needed to hear His voice and know His strength. And as usual, I was amazed and humored by His choice of methods. A checkbook that has worried me because I was just sure some identity thief had found it when I dropped it during Christmas shopping, and I have been waiting for the "shoe" to drop ever since then. And all this time, it was right here somewhere. Now, I haven't figured out where it was, but I suspect that my precious Belle -- my yellow lab -- found it somewhere and dragged it to the front yard. See, God uses the funniest things, even my lab who is in a new season of chewing and dragging everything in sight, including Figaro, the cat! And there's another lesson in this: just like my checkbook that was here all the time, well, God is always here. Sometimes I can't feel Him, but He is here and faithful nevertheless. I just need to keep seeking, asking, and knocking, and He will answer. Today He even wrote me a check!