My friend, Sharon, relayed this amazing story to me recently. Her evening began at 8:45 PM.

Sharon and her husband put their mattress and box springs on Craig’s List FREE. They received 25 calls in one hour! Sharon had written that the reason they were “selling” the mattress is she is having back surgery and needed to have a firmer mattress, so they wanted to share this one with someone in need.

They heard so many heart wrenching stories – children sleeping on the floor and people with no money, of course, so Sharon began to worry about who they would give the mattress to.

They decided to e-mail everyone back and tell them the mattress had to go first come first serve. There were many explanations of trying to get a truck, van etc.

The final outcome was that the mattress went to a boy who has a brain tumor and is being treated at St. Joseph. The tumor keeps growing and he has nearly lost all of his sight in both eyes. The family is a dear Christian couple who had borrowed a truck from a neighbor to get to Sharon’s home from the far southeast valley. Sharon told me that she spent time talking with this couple about Jesus and how prayers are answered so beautifullly and peace beyond comprehension if our prayers don’t seem to be answered the way we had planned. Of course they all promised to pray for the little boy, and it was the sweetest experience. Sharon found a set of sheets to throw in and a huge bag of clothes that she had just put together a few hours before to be taken to Good Will.

Don’t you just love these things God does!!!!!

Watching for God,
janet

I saw God today…there is an open area near my house where the farmers winter their sheep. I drive by every day and love to look at all these precious sheep – big ones, little babies, brown, white. Last week I went to one corner and took a couple pictures, but today I wanted to try to get closer and get some shots of those darling little lambs. As I tried to quietly approach, first one, then another and another looked up at me and immediately started to move away. Then they started to run away. I was bummed since I didn’t get my great photos, but I saw God. “…the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. His sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”

God calls us sheep. I want my heart to be so attuned to His voice that I recognize it immediately and follow only Him. How do sheep learn to recognize their shepherds voice? They spend lots of time with Him! How about you?

Watching for God,
janet

Happy 2010!
I love a new year. I love that God gives us fresh starts, clean slates, second chances, new mercies, new possibilities and new opportunities to watch for Him in our world! I’m excited to see what God has planned for this new year.

Every day, in small little seemingly insignificant ways and in big obvious miracles, God is at work all around us. Jesus walked this planet touching people, speaking the truth, healing the sick, feeding the poor, freeing captives. And He taught us to do the same and more!

So, my desire is to be more aware of what Jesus is doing in my life, the lives of those around me, and in the world. It’s so easy to get discouraged and disheartened about what it happening around us. It’s easy to get caught up in the work-a-day world, the stress and trouble of this world, that we miss the fact that God is working. John 5:17 says, “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’” There are lots of amazing, great, wonderful, inspiring and encouraging things happening all around us, if we just take a moment to watch for them!

I’m going to be watching closely for God at His work and want to share that with you to encourage you that God is working! I hope you’ll join me in “Watching for God!” and share your positive stories of where you see God at work!

Watching for God,
janet