This evening as I was cooking dinner, I noticed some leftover sandwiches from the weekend. I didn’t realize they were in there. I figured they would be good for tomorrow’s lunch. However, as I went to take the casserole out of the oven, it slipped out of my hands and landed face down on the kitchen floor. Needless to say, I was pretty upset. I was trying to figure out what to eat and then I remembered the sandwiches. I was grateful that I had just found them.
I Found God today in food provided.
I got home this afternoon from a wonderful day and a half with my friend. I went through the details of our little get away with my parents, which was highlighted by meeting wolves. The weather forecast for the weekend was dismal to say the least, but we certainly didn’t expect to experience such diversity in such a short period of time. The night before we left, there was a terrible hail storm that hit my friend’s house. When I arrived to pick her up in the morning, I was shocked by all the leaves and tree branches all over the place. It was quite cloudy and we hoped for the best as we started our adventure. As we headed up the first mountain pass, the sun peeked out here and there creating small chunks of rainbows glowing in the mountain side. We took that as a good sign. By the time we got to the cabin, the clouds had broken and there was mostly sunshine. But as time passed, we noticed the clouds were building up again in the direction we were heading. When we arrived at the wolf sanctuary, just as we were starting our tour, there was a downpour of rain and gropple along with thunder and lightning. The temperature dropped and it started hailing. We were incredibly grateful, though, when just as we finish part 1 of the tour, it stopped raining all together. We could interact with the wolves without getting poured on. Later in the evening, we went into town for dinner and it started snowing. After dinner on the way home, we ran into extremely thick fog in places. So, we basically experienced most of the weather there is in a mere 12 hours. It certainly kept things interesting. We had to laugh.
I Found God today experience many types of weather in a short time.
Up in the mountains, there is a wolf and wildlife sanctuary that is home to about 15 wolves, along with coyotes and foxes. They have tours and ways to actually interact with the animals. A good friend of mine has been wanting to go for years. People have said they would go and take her, but no one followed through. I made reservations for us a couple of weeks ago, and today was the day. We started with the basic tour and learned the stories of each of the beautiful animals. We could see their different personalities as they came up for treats and some petting. There were several different breeds and colors and were all just beautiful. At the end, we did the “wolf howl”. Our guide started it off and we chimed in. Then, the wolves joined us. As we grew silent, we could hear the howling coming from all directions. It was pretty incredible. Then came our interactive tour. There were 4 of us and 2 guides who took us inside one of the enclosures. They instructed us on how to best relate to the wolves. They said that the particular wolves that we were going to be with loved to give kisses and to be sure to accept them. We sat down on the ground and they came right up to us. Then the kisses began. The wolf’s tongue was so big, it practically covered my face. It was awesome and somewhat intimidating at the same time. We were able to spend quite a bit of time petting, kissing, and giving treats to the large timber wolves. I was truly in awe of their size, yet gentleness. Luckily, the guides took pictures so we have evidence and reminders of the amazing experience. It was exhilarating and somewhat overwhelming for both my friend and me. It was an experience I will never forget.
I Found God today in an amazing experience with wild wolves.
I gathered up the last of the trash tonight and brought it outside to the large can. As I opened the garage door and headed out, I saw a beautiful sight. There in the sky, just above the horizon, was the sliver of a crescent moon and Venus glowing brightly near by. They were framed by large pine trees on either side, which were somewhat illuminated by the street light. I got my dad and we just admired the view for a long time. Then my dad decided to get out his camera to see if he could get a good picture. That motivated me to get mine out as well. As I was playing with the camera, I found a new setting to try out and I think I got a pretty good shot. Whether I did or not, I was happy I had a late round of trash to take out tonight.
I Found God today in a beautiful heavenly sight.
I had dinner with some friends tonight. One woman told us about a dance recital that she attended that her granddaughter was in. There was a dance portraying the life (so far) of a young woman. He family faced many challenges during the past few years. One of the biggest was when she received the diagnosis of cancer in her throat. Even though she did not have friends in high school, she fought hard and successfully beat the disease. She is 21 years old now and performed a danced that represented her trials and triumphs. my friend said it was so moving and powerful. She was sitting in the front row and when the dance ended, she jumped to her feet to applaud.
I Found God today in the story of a young woman overcoming difficulties and sharing it with others.
I heard a beautiful story on the radio today. A woman who had gone through some very difficult times in her life, was estranged from her son and grandchildren. She hadn’t heard from him at all on Mother’s Day, so she decided to go out on her own. At the restaurant, the waitress realized that she was a mother all alone and felt sad for her. She and some of the other waitresses got together and bought her a small gift and treated her like a queen – even buying her meal. Even though they didn’t know her full story, they just knew that she shouldn’t be alone. That meant so much to the mom and she was overwhelmed. Later that night, she called her son who she hadn’t spoken to in a very long time. She shared her joy with him and they vowed to get together. The woman then invited the waitresses to a girl’s night to thank them. I don’t know the details of the woman’s difficulties, or the reason for her not speaking to her son. Neither did the waitresses, and it made no difference to them. They knew she was sad, they empathized with her, and did what they could to help. Their actions put a whole different set of actions into motion with the mom and her son that may not have happened otherwise. To me, the story is a beautiful example of how an act of kindness can seriously change lives.
I Found God today in a beautiful act of kindness that made a difference.
I met a woman at a prayer group a couple of months ago and we have stayed in touch every now and again. She was on my mind today, so I sent her a message and told her I was praying for her. She said that she and her husband made the decision to move to Serbia in the Fall. They are in the process of putting their house on the market, and then will be selling the majority of their possessions. They will be working with the small number of Christians there to spread the Gospel and the message of God’s love to those living in the area. This past Sunday, we read the last chapter of Mark when Jesus commissions His apostles to, ““Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” This woman and her husband are literally doing exactly that. I am amazed at their courage, sacrifice, and faith and will definitely keep them in my prayers.
I Found God today in a couple who are going into the world to proclaim the Gospel.
Today was my mom’s choice to celebrate Mother’s Day. After church, my son and I made her meal of choice – sloppy joes, coleslaw, baked beans, and fruit salad. To be honest, I have not made sloppy joes in years as I am pretty much obsessed with cooking healthy. I have to say, it was delicious. I guess sometimes you just need a change. My mom really wanted to see the opera Aida, so we got tickets for her, my dad, me, and my son and attended this afternoon. Honestly, I have never been to a live opera, and none of us were quite sure how much we would enjoy it. We planned on reading the plot before hand so we would know what was going on. We got the basic story line, but no details, so when the singing started and the English captions showed up on a screen, we were pretty happy. The orchestra and choir were beautiful and my mom still knew some of them from her piano teaching days. The hero was previously an NFL player who got hurt and was unable to play, so now he’s singing opera. That piqued the attention of my son. The lead soprano’s voice was enthralling. It was so smooth and she had such control between the loud and quiet dynamics. Her emotion really drew me in so that I found myself holding my breath. It was easy to follow the story with the captions and I was glad we didn’t actually know all the details, so we didn’t know how it would end. Afterwards, we all talked about how much we enjoyed it, even though we were uncertain at first. Once we got home, my brothers, sisters, and other son called to wish Happy Mother’s Day. For the past 3 years, I have not had a son around to celebrate with, so I was very happy to have one here this year. It was a great day, and my mom made some wonderful choices.
I Found God today celebrating my mom and her choices.
My sister has been struggling trying to find a new job and getting very discouraged. Many people have been encouraging her to start her own business selling her amazing coffee toffee. She finally decided to pursue the idea and has been working day and night for weeks to prepare for her first big event. She, my sister, and a friend spent 2 days at the event. We followed her via text and some pictures. Not only did she sell over 150 pounds of toffee – almost selling out her entire stock – she won the award for the best toffee. When we heard she won, my mom was so proud and happy for her, she was crying. We all knew it was the most amazing toffee, and now thousands of others also know. This was the accomplishment that my sister has deserved and has been waiting for, giving her much needed hope. I’m sure this was the first in a series of successful events to come.
I Found God today in my sister’s success.
We spent the day at the cabin today. It was pretty windy during the day making it difficult to fully enjoy the beauty, but it calmed down later on, so I went out for a walk just before dusk. It was so quiet. I didn’t do a power walk, just kind of a meander. I would stop every now and again to take a good look around and listen for any wildlife. There is a large rock about halfway down the large hill by the cabin, so I headed there to just hang out. As I was enjoying the scenery, I heard a bird call. It wasn’t one that I was familiar with. There was a single tone, then a long series of trills. It would start on one note, then the next series would start about a fifth above the first. The trills echoed in the otherwise quieted hillside. I was mesmerized. I don’t know how long I stood there listening. I never did see the bird that sung the beautiful melody. But I certainly did appreciate it’s song.
I Found God today in a beautiful, mesmerizing bird song.
Still Finding God 