Experiencing God

Experiencing God-Chapter Six-God is at Work Around You

Question 1. Reflect on your experience with God. Can you identify times when God was at work around you-and you knew it? Was there a time when God was working around you in past situations but you did not recognize it as God’s activity at the time?

Just over a year ago, our area was hit by a severe flood. The week before we were hit by the tail end rains of Hurricane Irene. With the heavy rains, both the Chenango and Susquehanna rivers were high. The following weekend we had three days of rain. Even though the rain was not significantly heavy, the rivers were already swollen and the waters were continuing to rise. After a day of no rain, we were once again drenched. This time it was from the rains of Tropical Storm Lee.

The damage from the flooding in our area was twice as bad as the Flood of 2006. The flood impacted not only our area but also towns to the west and east of us. Even people who did not live near the rivers were also affected, since the creeks –most notably The Day Hollow Creek-overflowed as well.

Thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed by the flooding. At least ten thousand people had to be evacuated and many were left without a place to return to.

During this time God was at work around us. People who were not affected by the flooding helped people who were. There were the rescue teams who helped people get out of their homes. There was the college and other places that set up shelters for the evacuees. There were the people who help evacuate the animals from the Humane Society. There were the friends and family members who helped others clean up. There were the generous people who donated money, clothes, cleaning supplies and other items. The list goes on.

Before I became a Christian I never gave God credit for the good things that happened around me. I was too self-centered to give him a second thought. However, I was more than eager to blame him when something did not go the way I wanted.

Question 2. Have you recently been asked to be involved in a ministry for which you feel inadequate? Could it be that God is inviting you to a new level of ministry with Him for which He will equip you?

To me this is a tough question since I am not sure what God wants me to do. It gets to be frustrating, because God has plans for me and I do not know what they are. I need to pray to God to know what he wants me to do.

This is what I need from God:

I need to hear him speak to me and I need to hear him.

I need him to show me what he is doing in my life.

I need to believe in him. When he promised to do something, since he is all truth, he will do what he has promised.

I need to adjust my way of thinking and doing things. When I am thinking in negative ways, I need to adjust to thinking in positive ways. God’s ways are positive, not negative.

By praying and making adjustments, I should recognize what god wants to do through me.

I also must focus on the love relationship with him. I must remember that when God created man, he did this because he loved him. He allowed me to be born because he loves me. I am allowing myself to get involved in a loved relationship with God. Whenever I feel that God is not doing anything in my life, I will focus on the love relationship. By doing this, God will tell me what to do.

As I am continuing me reading, I suddenly realized that ministry does not mean that I have to become a pastor of a church with a large congregation. It could just be one person who approaches me with questions.

Question 3. Has you service for God in the past been centered on you and what you felt comfortable doing, or on listening to God’s voice and doing whatever he asked? How might your service for God be more God-centered in the future?

I want to do what God asks me to do. However, I am afraid I am still too self-centered. Right now as I am working on this question, my car is in the shop. The other night while I was driving it to work, it stalled and I could not get it started. Me mechanic is reliable and not expensive. However, I always have that nagging feeling inside me. As I mentioned before, I worry about things. When I do that, O cannot focus clearly on God.

I think that if I did not have stressful circumstances in my life, I could concentrate and be more God-centered in the future. However, I would-most likely-find something else to stress about. Then again, the stressful situations in my life might disappear and I possibly would forget that God had helped me.

From today on, I will put God first. As soon as I wake up, I will pray to God for guidance for the day. I will study the word before I start any of my daily activities.