God Stories

A dear friend was the first person I heard use the term, “God stories”. I love hearing those stories! I love the reminders of God’s presence.

God Stories: those things that occur unexpectedly and you know only God could have done that; those times you barely missed being in an accident because you were running late. Did you remember to thank God?

God stories: those “coincidences” that were not coincidences at all, but the hand of God reaching out to pull you in.; something is lost and suddenly reappears because God put in your ear where to look.

It would be a safe bet to say most of you have experienced a God Story. Maybe you didn’t recognize it as a gift, maybe not even know what it was. Christians are aware of these God Stories and know that each one reaffirms us that “God is great, y’all!

Let me set the scene for the first God story I’m going to share. There was a little shop that was the separating point for Kavanaugh and Markham. Parking was at the rear of the store in a lot that slanted down toward Markham. Across the street from the parking lot was a gas station with a row of fuel pumps out front. At any given time of day Markham was heavy with speeding traffic.

I had an older Blazer model vehicle that would occasionally stick in gear or pop out of gear. My first two children were small enough to still be in car seats, and we had gone to that store. When we were ready to leave, I strapped them in the back seats and started to climb in the drivers seat. Before I could climb in the drivers seat, the gear popped out and the vehicle started rolling at a fast rate, down the sloped drive, across Markham, toward the gas pumps. I grasped the steering wheel while still outside the vehicle, and with my 4’11” frame, I braced my feet and was able to stop the vehicle with just my hands and feet just a few feet before it would have slammed into those pumps. During all this, not one vehicle traveled Markham. I knew that only God could have given me the super human strength to have stopped that vehicle!

Right after my first chid was born, I had a God story. We had just come home from the hospital. Both baby and I were asleep. I woke up and went into the bathroom to get ready to bath my daughter. I passed out. I woke up because my little terrier was licking my face. I tried to stand, but passed out again. I woke up again with my dog licking my face. As I’m coming to and getting up, my aunt and uncle came in to see the baby. Immediately upon entering the house, they smelled gas. They ran to the bedroom, grabbed up the baby and threw open the window. The house was an older one where the furnace was in the wall. We discovered there was a gas leak. The fumes had made it to the bathroom, thus causing me to pass out. If my dog had not revived me, and if my family hadn’t come at that moment, we probably would have died.

Not all God stories are huge. Some are small, but you still know it was God. I had misplaced my car keys. I literally had looked everywhere I could think of, but could not find them anywhere. The battery was dead in my spare key fob. I had resolved it in my mind that I would need my mom to take me the next day to get another car key plus the other keys that were with that set. As I was coming back into the house, I asked God one more time to show me where to look. This was in the fall and leaves had formed a pile in the corner at the bottom of the stairs. As I walked past the pile, I looked down and noticed just a tiny speck of silver. I raked back some leaves and there were my keys. Yes, a God story!

My Mom had bought me a pair of diamond earrings for my birthday. They were originally quite expensive, but we had gotten an incredible deal on them. One Sunday morning after arriving at church, I noticed one of the earrings missing. When I got home, I searched my car thoroughly. I had stopped at a donut shop before church, so I went back there and searched the parking lot. I searched the house, especially the bathroom floor by the shower. I literally got on my hands and knees and searched the bathroom floor inch by inch. I went to bed praying I would somehow find that earring because I knew we couldn’t afford to replace them. I got up the next morning, took a shower, and as I was getting out of the tub, I looked down and there was my earring, right where I had searched for it the night before. God story!

There are other stories I could probably tell, but I think you can get the idea. God is everywhere! He answers even the small, seemingly insignificant prayers. Remember to say “thank you”. What’s your God story?