Photo Album of God's Fingerprints



Have you ever taken the time to look at an old photo album, remembering the "good old days" when wearing a leotard with shorts was cool, not to mention having prepubescent legs that actually looked cute in those shorts? Seeing how your hair style morphed with the generations, including that horrid perm or rat tail? 

Sometimes I wish we had a photo album of the sequence of events that God orchestrates in our lives. Instead of having pictures of your 2nd birthday, High School graduation and your first tooth to go underneath your pillow for the tooth fairy, I wish we had a "photo album" of the job that you lost that put you behind financially but ended up moving you to a better one, or that relationship that ended and tore up your heart, only to have that relationship lead to meeting the love of your life.

It is common knowledge that we only take pictures of the happy times. You rarely see a newly divorced couple take a picture with the judge, a mother after she loses her son to a drunk driver, or a little girl bury her dog in the front yard. Facebook is riddled with pictures of our "friends" that seem to have it all together, capturing all the vacations, birthdays and sickening "happiness" that you sometimes wish you had. 

I have come to learn that in my feeble humanity and being a student of learning how to surrender my all to Jesus Christ, that tracing God's fingerprints on my life is a very therapeutic and beneficial way to see God's leading through the valleys and mountain tops, different states, pant sizes, people and hair stylists.  Although everything in my blog posts could be considered "personal", let me take a moment to get more specific in hopes that it will help you understand a similar pattern/experience in your life.

 Recap of God's fingerprints in my life:

  • God knew that the relationship I was in was with a man that was not the best for me. He confirmed that by removing me from my job that I took to be closer to him.
  • God knew that I didn't have any money to start over in a new place, due to catching up with things financially after losing two jobs in under one year. Thus, He provided me with a job with housing, leading me to Tennessee. 
  • That job enabled me to have minimal expenses to get caught up with my bills and get on my feet a bit, as well as allowing the love of my life find me. He would have never found me if I was living in Sioux Falls.
  • I knew that my job would be temporary, due to granny's diagnoses of dementia and her age. Only God knew the duration of this job.
  • God opened the doors to a new job just in time. Only God knew that I was already sick during this time, I just didn't have the symptoms. Only God knew that I would lose my job during the first week, due to that sickness. 
  • Only God knew that allowing this specific sickness would prevent me from driving or flying home, as it would not be safe for me to travel alone with this sickness.
  • The only place that I could go was Jeremy's parents house. They opened their hearts and home to me, allowing me to heal and recover; giving me a roof over my head, food to eat, and friendship that mimics that of a loving family. 
  • God knew that the only thing that I could handle physically right now is a part time job. That despite the fact that bills are behind again and it will take a financial miracle to be able to live on my own again, the reality is that I can't physically do more then a part time job right now. God knew this.
  Friends, don't ever for a second think that the sequence of events in your life have no purpose.  When we don't surrender our lives to Christ, it just seems like insanity. And frankly, it is insanity. When we don't surrender our lives to Christ and recognize that our lives are not our own, it becomes a dysfunctional dance of self; your thoughts, your perception, your plans, your desires, etc.  When we don't recognize that there is a loving Father who is lovingly weaving threads into your life tapestry, we lose out on the beauty of the process. When we focus only on the pain, we cheat ourselves. When we focus only on the happy times, we cheat ourselves again. Take God out of the picture, and you have lost it all.

"And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail"
- Isaiah 58:11

Go ahead, trace His fingerprints. Trust Him and trace.

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