LOVING YOU
Finding God in the Ordinary
Today’s guest blogger is Sydney mother-of-two Samantha Freestone, who began to get worn out with the daily grind. That’s when she began her search to find God in the ordinary.
Samantha Freestone is the host of the Some Answers podcast.
Treasuring Mothers Podcasts with Samantha
Finding God in Ordinary Life >>>
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Finding God in the Ordinary
I am 34 years old. I am an ordinary woman, who happens to be married with two children.
Each day as I wake, I feel the previous day’s labour in my muscles, and I hear my bones crack as I turn over. I grab my phone to check the time. If I’m lucky, it’s 7:15ish which means, hopefully, I have slept eight hours.
One of my children, comes to my side of the bed and usually has some request,
“Mum, can I have porridge for breakfast?”
“Mum can you help me put my tie on?”
I stumble out of bed, find my slippers and schlop towards the kitchen in desperate need of tea, or coffee. Or both.
The Daily Grind
Depending what day it is, I might be getting ready to work, putting on my ward clerk uniform, anticipating another day on a Mental Health ward. Or today might be a day where I go to Bible study and then do housework in the afternoon.
My husband and I get our kids ready for school. We remind them of their chores, dishes, making bed, and the loss of pocket money if they don’t. Sometimes we have to deal with resistance and frustration from the kids, “Why do we have to do jobs?!” or “Rules are unfair!” Or whatever they need to fight on that particular morning.
The day is normal. Mundane. Ordinary.
But we follow an extraordinary God who reveals Himself in the ordinary.
I Started Noticing
Four years ago, I began to wonder why I couldn’t hear or see God in my life. I looked over at what other people were doing and could see how God was working in their lives, but had no clue as to what was happening in mine.
“God told me …” were some of the conversations I was having with my friends and I envied their connection to God. Out of desperation, I began to write about my ordinary life and began to look for God in the ordinary. It reminded me of when you buy your family car, and then you notice how many other people are driving the same vehicle. I started noticing God in EVERYTHING.
Every day I look for God, in every circumstance and in everything I do. I am looking for Him to speak to me; I’m desperate to hear from Him. Some people have commented to me, that they think it’s cool that I see life lessons in everyday life, but I only see it because I am looking.
Hidden Messages?
The other day, I was sitting in my car, when I turned and saw something that made my heart soar. Someone had graffiti-ed “I LOVE YOU” on the side of a bridge. Three simple words, which were intended for someone else, but in that moment, I felt like they were for me. Hidden from the rest of the world, were the words that He says to us every day and we simply miss it. We take His grace and love for granted.
I was listening to a sermon a few weeks back, and the pastor reminded us of the importance of training yourself to see and recognize grace.
Recently, I noticed my daughter had written a message for her pet turtle, which was facing into his tank. The note read “I love you Phil”. She wanted him to know, every moment of every day, that he was loved by her.
How much is this the same with God? He is trying to communicate with us, every moment of every day that HE LOVES US, and we simply miss it. We take His love for granted.
This story. This is what I mean.
At the end of the day, when the kids come home from another “normal” day, we make lunches for the next day and do homework. My son sits at the iPad doing his maths homework. I notice he has consistently been working on his mathematics over a few nights. I kept encouraging him to keep going, and he kept telling me he only had a “little” bit more to go. On the night before his homework was due, I asked him why it was taking him so long. He just looked at me and said, “I just don’t understand it”.
When I looked at his maths homework, I could totally understand why he didn’t get it. It was tricky for his age, but instead of him asking for help earlier, he tried to do it on his own for three nights and eventually got nowhere. I got cross at him for not asking for help sooner, but I was probably more mad at myself for not intervening earlier.
My Reality
God reminded me in that moment that I rarely ask for help for anything, and do things on my own. I even treat my relationship with God that way. I have a “Saviour” complex where I think I can do it, I have all the answers and I’m able to change lives.
But in reality, I’m a mere human, who is completely flawed and actually needs a Saviour to pull me out of the messes I make. My pride gets in the way, and asking God for help, makes me feel so weak.
Reality check: I AM so weak!
Trust me when I say, I have the most ordinary and unglamorous life, yet I follow a very spectacular God. It wasn’t until I started looking, actively looking, that God became more obvious to me.
My life is ordinary, my God is not.
My Big Question to You:
Are you training yourself to recognize God’s love in your life?
Read Samantha’s guest post about her battle with ANXIETY >>>
Catch some of Samantha’s compelling reflections on her Facebook profile >>>
