Where was that Nintendo Switch?? Caden and I could not find it anywhere in the house. I looked and looked until I started to feel a little desperate. I'd looked in all the regular places, how could it been hidden so well? So, I started to pray - just because I was so frustrated with myself, not because I really wanted Caden to play video games.
"Where is that thing?! You know where it is, God, give me a hint. Help me to remember."
As I continued to look, I started thinking that maybe God wasn't going to help me or care about an electronic device and would just let me flounder around in frustration. I figured it was my fault, after all. As I searched high and low, slow other thoughts came to mind...like how many times He'd answered prayer before, often in a different way than I expected.
Out of the blue, Caden said, "It's in the van, remember?" And sure enough, it was. The mystery was solved, but it was not lost on me that the answer had come in another way other than my efforts. I did get an answer. The lost was found and I was heard.
I needed a boost on Wednesday morning. I was tired and sought some encouragement. "I need a word, Lord," I quietly said, more to myself than out loud. Psalm 13 popped into my head and its words brought the encouragement I needed.
Psalm 13:5-6 (NIV)
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
So, not once, but twice this week, I received a tailor-made, Spirit-led answer because the Spirit is truly that close and that present. Even if it's as inconsequential as a lost device, I'm heard.
This week, I've been listening to my Lectio 365 app, and the focus has been the Holy Spirit: the advocate, counselor, and comforter. Jesus says that the presence of the Holy Spirit is even an improvement to having Him on earth.
"The Holy Spirit is the daily, felt, experiential presence of God, who will never leave me nor forsake me. The indwelling Holy Spirit means that the places I feel weak today not have to be hidden and covered up but should be exposed to prayer to the God eager to help."
-Lectio 365
I needed that reminder this week that God is eager to help...and does. That the Spirit is close and answers. Maybe you need it, too.
What's on your heart? Are you wondering if the answers are coming or if what you need is really available as you navigate parenting and life? Sure, there are times in parenting when it is all going smoothly and then there are those dreaded times when it's a dumpster fire. With lots of medium times in between. No matter what is happening, this remains true: The Spirit is present, close, listening, active and ready to speak life into your soul, your life. We have the the gift of advocate, counselor, and comforter from moment to moment, step by step.
Think of that temporarily-lost Nintendo Switch, and remember we are found and heard.
John 14:16-18 (New Living Translation)
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you."