The Synchronicity of the Spirit

I used to read about coincidences. I truly believed in the power of them. I don’t enjoy them as much as I enjoy when God shows up across different, disconnected areas of my life. My stance has changed regarding coincidences. I believe in God’s providence.

Recently, we had a health scare in our family. By scare, I mean absolute freak-out. My wife discovered a lump. We found out today that it was non-cancerous. We have been praying about this for some time already. We had friends and family join us in prayer beforehand as well. Basically, as I thought of people, I solicited prayers. I cannot tell you what that means to us to have that kind of comfort. Thank you to those of you who prayed! Let me connect some other dots for you.

A few months ago, my wife and I felt led to seek a new church. We didn’t have any major issues with our previous church; we just felt like as a family we wanted more opportunities to grow, connect, and serve—for us and for our children. God, I have no doubt, put us at that church. I also have no doubt He put us where we are now.

So, we started attending elsewhere. The first day we decided to attend elsewhere, our pastor contacted me and asked where we were. I shared we were visiting another church. He reminded us we were loved, and I shared that we love them, too. We ended up talking with another church leader of the church about the particulars regarding why we were leaving (see above).

We visited several churches. Seeking a new church is a whole post unto itself; however, after visiting several, we have been attending one near our home. We wanted to stay within the community; we wanted our children to have an opportunity to make friends at church with kids from their schools; we, too, wanted more service opportunities and chances at friendships. We’ve lived here a year, and God has put people in our lives at key times. I have no doubt our previous church and current one are gifts from God.

At our previous church, I can’t explain how good people were to us at a time that was very difficult for us. They were really kind in a variety of ways. They took us in and loved on us at a time we really needed it. We are forever grateful to them. Currently at our new church, we’ve been attending life groups on Sunday mornings and participating in a book study on Wednesday evenings. In our Wednesday night group, we learned one of our members was a cancer survivor. His outlook impacted me greatly as he said he was grateful for having cancer because it ultimately brought him closer to God. At the time, we did not know what we were facing, and cancer was a possibility. Eventually, I asked our pastor for his contact information. As God would have it, we both attended a men’s retreat at church, too. He shared with me that both he and his wife beat cancer. We weer able to meet and talk with both of them. Naturally, we solicited their prayers, too.

God has been working on my wife in encouraging her to ask for help. She has been doing that. Typically, she’s very independent, and this process has been a definite growth process for us both. She has reached out to ask for help, support, and prayers. With me, He has been working on not only helping me trust Him, but also in fearing Him. I cannot tell you how many times God’s wrath has come up for me lately.

I’ve been reading through the Bible again. I think I’m over 280 days or so this time around. I’m not bragging, but I want you to see how this plays out because it’s an important illustration here of the power and planning of God. I am not capable of planning such an event. A few Sundays ago, our pastor began a series called “Stand.” It’s been really good stuff, too. He used Daniel as a basis for these sermons. Although he and I talk, we do not talk about sermon planning. I had no idea what he was going to preach. Interestingly, some 270 or so days into my reading plan, guess what book showed up? You guessed it—Daniel!

Here’s another one for you. Blameless is a word that doesn’t come up much in my conversations or reading usually. A quick Bible search on www.biblegateway.com tells me that particular word shows up less than 30 times in the entire Bible. Recently on a Sunday morning, the word “blameless” came up in describing Noah. This morning, in my Bible reading, the first line in one of my readings included this:

“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless (emphasis added), who walk according to the law of the Lord.” ~ Psalm 119:1

I shared with you I’ve been working on trusting and fearing God. Well, wrath has popped up in my readings lately. I think for me, I haven’t always feared God enough. That theme, however, has been showing itself more and more, and with my wife’s health scare, I truly feared the power of God. I was scared. I realized a lot of things. I did not want anything to happen to her. At that same time, my 2018 word for me is trust. I trust some too easily and others (God) not easily enough. Pair fear and the lack of trust together, and you have a pretty solid recipe for anxiety. We’ve been talking about fear and anxiety quite a bit in Goliath Must Fall by Louie Giglio (so far, it’s really good!). There was quite a period today in which I guess I breathed; I’m not sure. I didn’t lose consciousness; therefore, I believe I breathed. Yet, I felt like I held my breath until we got her good news. I think my wife would say the same thing. As a child, I “feared” my father at times. I wasn’t really afraid of him per see but afraid of the consequences of my actions. I respected him. With God, however, I tend to think of Him more as a loving, forgiving Father. These things are true, yes. But, as Crowder sings, “He is jealous for me.” I need not only to be respectful, loving, and obedient, but I also need to be fearful of His awesome power.

I realize this piece is a shift from “normal” (whatever that is!) on this site. I think when the Spirit shows in our lives in different ways and when themes emerge from unimaginable ways, we need to pay attention to those things. I’ve had this saying attached to my thinking for many years. I’ll go ahead and credit God for it even though I probably try to take credit more often than not: “If you look, you will see.”

What does that mean?

It means we’re likely to find connections to things and people when we look for them. I picture the reticular activating system in which I say something random like, “Think of your left big toe.” Then, suddenly, you’re aware of your left big toe. Normally, you’re not. I think of the synchronicity of the Spirit in a similar manner. There is no way I could personally orchestrate what I shared with you today. I value foresight. I’m fairly decent at thinking of possible problems and ways around them. In my own life, I often don’t go too far ahead. These things aren’t coincidences any more than things I’ve written about previously. When the “synchronicity of the Spirit” shows itself in your life, embrace it. Be thankful for it. Learn something. I think more importantly, however, we need to share it.

We serve a mighty and powerful God indeed. He is good. He is loving. He is awe-inspiring. He is jealous for us. Thank you, God, for loving us enough to send Your son, Jesus, to die for our sins. Thank you, God, for our family and friends, for our church, for our community, and especially for my wife and kids. I’m so thankful You go before our storms. I’m so grateful You give us some discomfort to make us appreciate You and help us grow closer to You.

#Synchronocity #Spirit #God #Jesus #Christ #Connections #Providence