I love fog. It is one of my favorite natural wonders of creation. The other morning God gave me fog. We spent over 12 hours the day before at Kruger Park on the best safari in Africa. Being reminded of how big, beautiful, and vast God’s creation is makes me fall deeper in love with Him. He knows my heart and how nature speaks to it.
When I picture heaven I imagine lots and lots of fog, like when you go to a dance party and there is fog rising from the floor. I love the way fog can be dense one second where you can’t see a foot in front of you, and the next second it’s clear and light. Fog is a lot like the Holy Spirit.
At some points He feels so close, pressing into me that I can’t see a foot around me, and I’m so in tune with His presence that everything else fades away.
Even though the Spirit feels so close, I am led blindly, trusting that He knows what is just beyond the fog.
When the fog tends to let up, the Holy Spirit lets me in on some of the plans He has for me and I see a clearer picture of His goodness.
Fog is intense, overwhelming, mysterious. It cannot be captured, bottled up, or sold. It can go anywhere and come at anytime. Man cannot control it or understand it’s ways.
God gave me the gift of fog to remind me of His greatness. I am blown away by fog every time I see it. The mountains scream His majesty and power. The vast array of animals here tell of His intricate creativity. When I experience His magnificent creation I am reminded how small I am, yet He invites me to be a part of His great story.
He is so BIG and I am so small. Anything good in me is from Him. I am not my own.
“What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?” [1 Corinthians 4:7]
I will no longer be a child who is ungrateful for all that her Father has given her. I will not be that spoiled brat that throws a temper tantrum to have her way, soon after wanting something else.
I will no longer forget the extravagant gifts my Father has given. With every gift, and even when gifts are taken away, I will trust my daddy more. His dreams are my dreams. His perfect plan is better than what I can even comprehend.
“God can do anything, you know–far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us.” [Ephesians 3:20]
In the times in my life when the Spirit intervened on my behalf circumstances worked out better than I could have planned on my own. When I was growing up my grandma gave me a round stone and reminded me how in the old testament people made stones of remembrance so they would never forget how God met them in their time of need.
The end of my sophomore in college all of my friends were working out roommates for the next year. I had made plans to move in with two girls in my sorority. Late March they both decided to go with other options and all my good friends were locked into other plans. I will never forget how I cried out to God that night. I laid out on my dorm room bed, sobbing for hours. For the first time I remember saying “God I cannot work this out on my own. You HAVE to show up!” I felt so lonely, and decided to let the Holy Spirit come and be my comfort instead of finding comfort in talking things out with my girl friends. That night I decided I would not dwell on the situation; I would allow God to show up and prove that His plan is greater than mine.
In the next couple weeks my friends became concerned when I took no action to find roommates. “God will work it out” I told them. By mid April two of my best friends came to me asking to live with me. Lauren had decided to move out of the house she was living in and Krisi felt uneasy about signing a lease with the girls she had planned to live with. They both pursued me. We signed a lease by the beginning of May. We moved all our things in and painted by the end of the semester.
[krisi, me, and lauren at my graduation Dec. 2010]
This could have been the end of how God worked: He provided two wonderful roommates that I love dearly, taught me so much, loved me well and who poured life into me. BUT He did so much more! I had been praying for months for a house with three constituents: cheap rent, a porch, and close to campus. This house was cheap but no porch and far from campus. I was still content with how God had provided.
But He had more! I got a phone call a week into the summer letting me know that the campus house I had applied to lease was now open. We had waited and waited during the semester, and we couldn’t wait anymore we got a different house. At first I was frustrated that we got such a late notice, because we had already signed a lease, moved into, and painted a new house. But God’s plan was better than mine.
Since I was busy selling books all summer in Ohio, Lauren and my wonderful friends in Abilene moved ALL of my things into my new room. When I got back to Abilene I was so excited to be in a house with my best friends, two minutes away from campus, with TWO, not one, huge porches, and cheap rent!! God knew my heart and gave me a sweet, extravagent gift after such an intense summer.
That semester was my favorite time of my life thus far, mainly because of that house and the people in it. The living room was always filled with friends late into the early morning and the kitchen always smelled of sweet new recipes cooked graciously by my roommates, the sink filled with dishes. We had many a deep conversation and long meals on the back porch, a place that harbored comfort and vulnerability.
[Snow Day 2010- easily my favorite day of college!]
If I could go back to any time in life it would be my junior year of college. When I saw that quaint house on Hickory St. for the first time the biggest grin was slapped on my face. I jumped into my friends arms with such force, ecstatic to finally receive such a marvelous gift from the Lord.
When I think back to that semester it is the greatest stone of remembrance I have experienced thus far. My Father proved faithful, again. My junior year of college reminds me that God knows the cry of my heart and will give me the desires I long for.
This month will be a stone of remembrance when I fell in love with Jesus, He overwhelmed me with his passionate pursuit for me, and He outpoured His joy on me daily.
