In my senior year of college I recommitted my life to the Lord. Coming back to God, there was a lot of guilt, shame and unpacking that I had to deal with. This coupled with some deep insecurities from childhood left me constantly questioning if God truly loved me as an individual. I understood clearly that His desire is not to condemn the world but to save the world through His Son Jesus Christ but that was the world at large, not 'lil ole me'.
I didn't think God cared but because He is God and His concerns are for the greater good of humanity, His lack of concern for me personally (or so I thought) was surely not with evil intent.
YOU SEE ME
Even if you've never had this struggle yourself we've all seen this plot in tv shows and movies. The quiet, lowly dramatis personae push through the struggles of life, sometimes reaching rock bottom when suddenly the protagonist says or does something that conveys to the quiet ones that they are in fact seen, admired, loved and desired.
God has over the years been that heroic protagonist in my life, showing up in my low moments to say "HEY… I see you, I love you, I care, you are special to me". It's through the little things that these messages scream at me the loudest.
One day during my final semester of college a friend and I went to Subway to get lunch. It was really her buying lunch because I had very little money and Subway was certainly not in the budget
We stepped in and as I looked at the board I saw the chocolate chip cookies.
"Ooooh" I thought "I would love a cookie, but I can't afford that right now"
They were JMD50 each (equivalent to USD0.50 at that time)
As my friend placed her order the door opened behind us and I heard "pssst, pssst". I saw red, how dare this man enter the establishment to bother people with the equivalent of cat calling. I ignored him. The "pssst, pssst" persisted and then I heard "Excuse me, miss". So I whipped around in vexation, ready to give him a lecture about his inappropriate behaviour when he said "You dropped something" and left.
I looked down and there at my feet was a JMD50 note. Now understand that the entire time we were there, other than the random 'psssting' man, my friend and I were the only customers in the store. This money was not there when we entered and when I asked my friend, she checked and was not missing anything. God had placed my cookie money right at my feet.
I was blown away, God cared that I wanted a CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. To this day that incident warms my heart and helps to anchor me when my anxious thoughts carry me down several rabbit holes.
IT WASN'T JUST ONE TIME
Even though I will fondly recall my cookie testimony, there have been many other incidents over the years where God shows up with the little things and those have been like lit billboards declaring His love for me.
At the beginning of this year my crockpot died. Now understand that this had been a wedding gift and my most used appliance; it faithfully served our family for well over a decade. It died and if you know anything about the tv series This is Us, we don't mess with faulty crockpots.
Needless to say I was in distress, I could not afford to replace it at that time but didn't know how I would survive without it.
Having shared my dilemma with a relative, she revealed that she had a similar appliance at home that she had gotten over a year ago and had not used at all. She said I could have it. It turned out to be a combination pressure cooker and air fryer in one, in fact it had 7 different functions all in one. I was blown away. In the morning I lost my favourite appliance and by the evening God had given me something that was exceedingly and abundantly more than I had thought about in terms of a replacement. God cares about my kitchen appliances.
THE LEAST OF THESE
And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ Matthew chapter 25 verse 40
We are encouraged to show up for others. Too often we interpret that to mean a conference, seminar or grand treat but God has proven Himself to many of us in very practical, often overlooked ways. If God takes the time to pour effort into the seemingly insignificant moments, why don’t we?
Let’s shout our love loudest for others in the little things. We’ll be surprised to find that it is those things that have the greatest impact.