A guest post by Voni Harris
“He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”
~Job 5:9 (NIV)
There we were in HellHole Canyon—it’s a real place, a county preserve outside San Diego. You should go, and you should definitely take water. I mean, it is called HellHole for a reason.
If you walk down the canyon and back up the other side, you can see Mexico and Catalina and San Diego County. Rich and I weren’t prepared to go that long and decided to turn back once we reached the creek at the bottom.
But just after we got to the bottom, we heard a strange noise.
A rustling in the bushes.
“Uh, is that a turkey?” Rich ventured.
“A turkey? Here?” Why would there be a turkey in HellHole, right?
Another rustle. It was a turkey! Cool.
“Let’s follow it!” I wanted a cool picture. So we did follow it on the trail up the other side of the canyon for a few more minutes.
Never could get a good picture because it’s a wild turkey, duh. It knows how to hide.
It was sure fun trying.
...
Isn’t that just like God, though?
You set your limits. You decide how far to go.
And God sends a wild turkey—a spurt of joy, of curiosity—that tickles you to move just outside your comfort zone. You’re just doing life as usual when *poof* God reveals a bit of Himself to you, draws you closer to Him.
Like He did when he split the Red Sea in half in front of the entire nation of Israel.
Or how about His bit of humor about a camel and the eye of the needle?
Or when He raised Lazarus from the dead? Surprise! Joy!
I admit that a wild turkey isn’t always a “good” surprise. A “turkey” can be all-out painful: A rebellious teen, a bad diagnosis, a divorce. A Cross.
But these surprises also come from God. They also do God’s work in drawing us outside of our self-imposed comfort zones and closer to Him … if we let them.
It’s so easy to just go through life without being open to those wild turkeys God sends in your path.
Singing worship songs.
Listening to a sermon.
Sitting down with your Bible.
Raising a child.
In a doctor’s office.
Out and about in nature.
What wild turkeys has God sent lately? What wonders is He working in your life?
~*~
Author bio:
Voni Harris writes from her family’s home on the beautiful Alaskan island of Kodiak, with a husband, a golden retriever and a wheaten terrier to keep her from sitting at the computer too long at a time.
She holds a radio-TV degree from Drake University, and her short story “The Wedding” was published in Heart-Stirring Stories of Romance (edited by Linda Evans Shephard).
Her Christian suspense manuscript Nothing Hidden won the 2015 Daphne du Maurier unpublished inspirational category. It was titled “Next of Kin” when it won ACFW’s 2013 First Impressions contest. Tutoring is the second love of her life (after writing).
I definitely hear that, Loni. He sends those surprises and we know it's time to shift our plans to keep up. It's always easier to accept life's "turkeys" when we keep that in mind.
ReplyDeleteFantastic thought, Trish, thanks! When we know the Source of the "turkeys," it changes our attitude toward them. God's surprises can be trusted! -Voni
ReplyDelete