Here's Your Sign

Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see it and be put to shame.  For you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me." Psalms 86:17 (NIV)

I read this verse in a devotional one morning. The study went on to say that it's okay to ask God for signs of His presence at times.  We are not to ask for signs that He is real, and we aren't supposed to test God.  However, asking Him for a sign that He is near or asking Him to show us the way He wants us to go is Biblical.  

One day I was having a particularly stressful, busy day.  I had way more work to do than I normally do and proceeded to get very stressed out and very, very grumpy.  Luckily, nobody was home to bear my wrath, but God was there.

Anyway, I gave myself a break, sitting outside on the back patio.  I closed my eyes and forced myself to take some deep breaths and just relax. I asked God to help me with this challenge. 

            After a couple minutes, I opened my eyes and guess what I saw painted across the bright blue sky?  There were two jet airplane trails forming the shape of a perfect cross!  I knew God meant this as an encouragement to me; It was like God was winking at me, playing with me and, to be honest with you, showing off a bit.  I loved it!  It put a smile on my face and a skip in my step.  I was able to get back to my work with a much better attitude, all because God showed up. 

A friend recently told me about a very similar situation. She and her husband are in the process of selling their house. Anyone that has ever gone through this experience knows that many stresses are involved. Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. My friend has been trying to follow God and not run out in front of Him through this whole process. She doesn't want to "get the cart before the horse," and she definitely doesn't want to take any steps that are not God-ordained.  

As their ordeal is nearing the end, she felt herself getting more and more anxious, worrying about things out of her control.  She prayed to God, asking Him to give her a sign that He had everything under control.  

And He gave her a literal SIGN.  She drove right past one of the billboards that are up in town saying "04/23/2014." Now, I don't know what this sign pertains to, and neither does she, but she sure knew what they were for at that specific moment.  She just knew God was winking at her telling her that, yes, the scheduled closing date of 04/23/2014 is really going to happen.  See, that's been their scheduled closing date all along, but she was doubting herself and beginning to worry that it wasn't going to go through on time, if at all. 

God knows exactly what sign to give each of us so that we will know it's Him. Nobody else would have thought much about seeing that cross in the sky or that particular billboard at that particular time, but Karla and I knew what they meant and who they were from.  

As God to give you a sign today, and then let Him decide what it's going to be.  You'll know. Give God a chance to show off a bit for you!  It can be really fun to see what He does with that challenge!