My God of Humor

First of all, Stacy T. if you read this please email me as I lost all my email addresses when my computer crashed and I want to email you.

Now to my weekend at the Ladies Retreat. It is always interesting the different reactions you get from people when you mention a Silent Retreat. So many women we talked to said "I could just never do that." Why is it that so many of us (me included) find it difficult to just stop and be quiet before the Lord? We had 32 Ladies at this retreat and for about 18 of the ladies it was their first experience. Over and over we heard how surprised they were at how quickly the time went by. Some really great stories about their God encounters. Not free to share their encounters but I will share mine.

Since I could not really get out and walk around the grounds, or take a hike to the river. I stayed on the wrap around porch of the lodge. It was very wooded. A few years ago another woman had told us about an awesome encounter with a bird, so I prayed to God that I would know that He was with me if I could see a rabbit. In the meantime I was reading a book entitled "God On Mute". About 3 hours went by and I then read this prayer:
"Abba Father. I know all this stuff about your love in my head, but my heart gets hard to it and I'm tired. Please do whatever You've got to do (and I mean whatever) to unclinch my fists. Pry open my eyes to that I can see Your tears and soften my heart so that it moves me deeply. I don't understand why You don't just answer my prayers, but I do choose to trust that You have heard me, that you actually do care and that you're somewhere out there on my case. Abba, Father, thank you for all the ways You have blessed me. I honestly don't know what I'd do, where I'd be or even who I'd have become without you. Abba Father, I am going to try to trust you today. Amen."

As soon as I said that prayer I saw two ladies leaving the lodge and walking across the field and I cried out to God "do you really care that I can't walk across the field or that to hear the river I am having to listen to a water CD on my headphones?" Immediately, I heard God sing over me "Oh, yes I care, you know I care, my heart is touched with your grief. When you're way grows weary your long nights dreary just know I dearly care". After recovering from a cry, I then said "well maybe there are no rabbits in this area. I had heard some birds but could not see them, I said "just send some thing from your nature for me to see" Within a couple of minutes a wasp was flying around me. I just started laughing and said "Funny God, why am I not surprised that you would choose to show me again that your ways are not my ways". No sooner had the wasp flown away than a bee came. Now remember for 3 1/2 hours prior I had seen neither or anything else. About 30 minutes later I was still reading and looked down on my notebook and there was the tiniest worm I have ever seen crawling on my notebook. Only about 1/2 inch and it would crawl by pulling up his back and go a step, pull up his bach and go another step and on and on it went and I thought it was as if God was saying to me, "if I can care for this tiny, tiny creature, I definitely care for you." When I told some others this story one of the ladies said "He was also telling you to just keep walking forward one inch at a time." I pray I can be faithful to do just that. Thank you God for our time together, I look forward to many more.