Rebuilding Me!

This title could be interpreted that I am rebuilding myself but that couldn't be further from the truth. God and time are rebuilding me! Rebuilding sounds like a big task and indeed it is but sometimes it is the seemingly small things that truly matter in the building or rebuilding process. In building a home, it is the small little details that seem to put those finishing touches that really make it beautiful.

Recently at church, I had a large encounter with God where I have no doubt He was speaking directly to my heart. The worship team was closing the service with a song I had not heard, "Rebuilder", by Carrollton. The lyrics were basically describing the condition of my heart the last four years, "rubble, wreckage, walls crumbling...". The song goes on to speak lyrics of hope, "light in the room, breath in my lungs, My Shelter, My Helper..." All the things I have experienced in the healing. This encounter was large and went through my entire being but my next encounter with The Lord was quite small and could have been completely missed; it was but a whisper from God. (1 Kings 19:9-12)

That evening, Tom and I were on the front porch, exhausted from the day, sitting in silence. I had my eyes closed and was just praying the words of the song over and over, "rebuild me, rebuild me, rebuild me..." Tom pulled me from my prayer telling me to look on the pond. There swam one lone duck. Tom knows how I love it when ducks visit our pond and I always wish they would stay, but they don't. This duck was flying solo and landed on our pond for a brief swim. It seems, that with him, came a message for me. As I was watching the duck glide gracefully around the pond, I felt like God was telling me to look up the meaning, the symbolism, of a duck. I ignored the prompt at first, as it seemed silly, but it wouldn't go away, so I obliged.

Google, the site for all solid research, quickly informed me that the duck symbolizes new beginnings. I just started laughing out loud. Giggling, that The Lord not only spoke to my heart in a BIG way that morning but sent me another little nugget of encouragement and truth that evening. A nugget I could have easily missed. A nugget in the form of a nudge or a whisper.

He is in fact rebuilding me and giving me new beginnings! I don't know what that means or what it looks like but I know I found it encouraging. I was encouraged that my God knows my heart and sent me a message, all I had to do was pay attention and listen.

We often look for the big, bold announcements from God but sometimes He is found in just a whisper. We have to look for Him in the small things too. Some will discount this duck encounter as a mere coincidence. Frankly, I don't believe in coincidences. I believe He is in EVERYTHING! He knows the number of hairs on our heads. (Matthew 10:29-31)

If He cares about something seemingly so trivial, then why would He not be in everything? He is omnipotent and He is omnipresent.

All of our lives are busy and very distracting. I do not have encounters with God like this on the daily but when I do, I am oh so grateful! I try to quiet the noise on a regular basis so I may hear His whisper; sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. That doesn't mean He doesn't care or that He isn't there. Maybe there's more for me to do or maybe it's just not time for Him to reveal anything new to me.

The question was posed in my reading this morning from In Touch Ministries, "How much Bible Study is required to find out what God wants for us? What amount of prayer?" Answer: "Whatever it takes to hear from Him! He will always answer His children!"

Did you get that? He will ALWAYS answer His children! I find this so comforting this morning and I believe it to be true. That evening on the front porch, I was calling out to Him to rebuild me, to continue His work in me. He heard me, He answered me, even if it was in the form of a duck!

Your whisper from God may come in a different form. I pray you hear it, I pray you find it. May you not miss your whisper!

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8

"Before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear." -Isaiah 65:24

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of Him." -1 John 5:14-15

Until next time...