Not always the fireworks

God's hand in our lives
                  is not always revealed
by a huge fireworks display
   of monumental Fourth of July proportions.
But by the sneakiness of His grace
              in the unexpected,
and the most extraordinary ways
                    on the most ordinary days.

The profoundly significant
           sometimes appears only as a whisper.
Even in adversity and mystery
    --why is this happening like this???--
                 God is glorified,
                 even by our response.
"Trust Me in this." 
God can use even what I messed up
                        --or think that I ruined --
          because that is what His redeeming looks like.

God delivers in many unexpected packages
            and inconceivable dimensions.
Where did this come from?
Whether a package on the doorstep
                       tied with a big bow,
     something that is just not going right,
or that which stops me in my tracks,
                      God is working still,
             God is using even this.

I was running through the forest near my house,
my eyes down on the path,
thoughts elsewhere,
   watching carefully where to step next,
discerning what is only a fallen stick
                    or what could be a snake.
I glanced up as I rounded a turn in the road,
startled by a silent deer
    not six feet away on the edge of the trail,
looking at me right in the eyes,
          like God's faithfulness standing in the woods,
            His whisper,
            His Presence.
                       And I almost missed it.
               What other wonders have I not noticed?

God's voice is not always the loudest in the room,
His mighty works
           not always the fireworks,
but powerful and extreme
                right here,
                right where I am.

Don't miss this, He says.

...let the shadow go back ten steps.

                       2 Kings 20. 10

Not always in ways I expect,
     but marked by His profound Presence.