I Received a God Wink This Morning

Do you remember times when you have been pondering something -- praying about it faithfully -- and God just steps in when you least expect it to give you a nudge forward? I love those times because they are confirmation that I am heading in the right direction, and in the words of Stormie Omartian, they give me "light for the step I'm on" right now. I have been praying about a women's event, a time when women of God might worship together, pray together, and hold each other in our brokenness. I have also been praying about a promise He gave me a few years ago that hasn't come to fruition. Well, this morning, I heard a message loud and clear, and it came through Ruth Graham on Life Today. There is so much brokenness in our world, and yet, there is very little transparency about our pain. God has given me a heart for women, especially mothers, who are struggling with brokenness in life ----- broken by disappointment, broken by Satan's attacks on their children, broken by loneliness, broken by crumbling marriages . . . it matters not what it is. It only matters that we must all know we are not alone. But for us to really know we are not alone, there must be two things: first, we must learn that God is our Father, and He is our Healer. He is always available to us, and we must seek Him first. Second, we must be transparent enough that we can allow others to love us and pray for us when life seems impossible. Just yesterday, as I walked into work, people asked the normal question: "Morning. How are you?" And of course, my answer was, "Great!" And don't we do that all the time? We give the automatic response that we've been trained to give: "Wonderful." But the truth is that we are often not wonderful, and we must let others know when we need their prayers and support. Now, I am not suggesting that we need to tell our stories to every person we meet or spend our time at work focusing on our pain. However, there has to be a balance between telling nothing to anyone and telling everything to everyone. Sometimes when the question comes, we need to trust God enough to say, "You know, I'm not fine today. I could sure use your prayers." I want to close with some things Ruth Graham said this morning on LifeToday. God used her to speak to my heart, and maybe something she said will speak to yours. "Transparency ministers to people. People can't identify with perfection." "God wants to build on our weakness." And finally, "Our security comes from Christ." And she is right on the money. This morning I will place all my trust in Christ, and I will love others in a way that allows them to be imperfect, just like me, and it will be a very good day.