THE DIVINE FINGERPRINT OF GOD'S LOVE

THE DIVINE FINGERPRINT OF GOD'S LOVE

Recently while making the long drive from our home in Idaho to our son's in Oregon, my wife and I were having a spiritual discussion. She was relating to me how she had been praying for increased discernment to be able to better hear the voice of the Lord and the Spirit so she would know His will and how to more effectively serve Him and others.

Just the day before she had been in a store where she encountered a woman who seemed a bit out of sorts. They began to converse and this lady began to relate a long and rather bizarre tale of woe. As they were talking, my wife said she was silently praying to know what the Lord wanted her to do to help this woman. Was her story real or was it just a ruse to con her out of some money? And what should she do to help? But the heavens were completely silent.

She ended up being moved with compassion and giving the woman the cash she had on hand which she had planned to spend on a new shirt. As my wife was relating this to me, she was feeling confused and somewhat discouraged. She wondered why after all her prayers and pleadings, the Lord wouldn't guide her or why she couldn't hear His voice. And why in general she doesn't feel like she receives divine guidance more clearly in her life?

Now I should clarify here that my wife is perhaps the most naturally charitable person I have ever met. She just simply has a loving and serving heart in ways that continue to amaze and inspire me. Yet like many, she still doubts her worth at times and feels like she doesn't receive clear spiritual guidance in her life.  She is wonderful and spiritual in so many ways, but at this moment, she was experiencing a moment of discouragement.

I tried to explain that perhaps the Lord had answered her prayers, but not in the way she was expecting. He had provided her an opportunity to serve by meeting this woman in the store, but remained silent, so that SHE could make the choice as to what should be done. It was left up to her to determine the appropriate choice of action. Sometimes the Lord does this so that we can learn to become like Him without leading us by the hand and telling us everything we should do. And in my opinion, she had passed the test with flying, straight A+, colors!

As we continued our drive, my wife was pondering on this, but in her heart was still silently lamenting and wondering why the Lord didn't speak to her more clearly in her life as an indication of His love for her.

At the very moment these thoughts of doubt about God's love were going through her mind, we came around a bend in the road and she looked up behold a giant Heart in the side of the mountain in front of her! The Spirit flooded over her and she very literally burst into tears!

I hadn't seen the heart, but felt the increased Spirit, and noticed her reaction, so wondered what had happened. She related this divine sign and we had to stop and get a picture. We marveled together at the Lord's wonderful and masterful, and uniquely personal way in which He had answered her question of His love for her! She has collected heart shaped rocks for years, and here she was with an entire mountain testifying to her in a very personal and intimate way.

We were amazed how the Lord in His perfect way could have caused, beginning many years ago, the elements to shape and change the side of that mountain to form a heart shaped anomaly, and placed it right there in that bend of the road where He knew that my wife would see it in that exact moment she was having doubts about His love for her! And He accompanied that sign with a testimony of His love with a flood of His Spirit.

Oh how amazing and perfect is our Lord and Savior! He knows us! He loves us! And He speaks to us in very personal ways which may be different than He does with others, but are just what we need in our unique circumstances!

But there can be no doubt that if we have hearts to feel and eyes to see, that we will witness the divine stamp and fingerprints of His love for us, all across the landscape of our lives... even if it takes an entire mountain to do so!