God Speaks in Sign Language

Did you know that God speaks in Sign Language?
There are times when we are faced with a decision that does not present itself with an obviously right choice, leaving us unsure as to which way God would have us go.
Down through the history of man God has in times like that clarified His directive by speaking in ‘sign language’.

It is often the clearest, most assuring, personal word we hear from Him, but I find that many people are afraid to trust ‘the language’ or its value in their relationship with God.
Oswald Chambers often referred to God as ‘the God of the haphazard’ (God of co-incidences).
If you want to hear God's ‘sign language’ you cannot believe in mere co-incidences.

We have so many instances in scripture where God spoke through ‘sign language’, and even encouraged His people to ask for it.
“The Lord spoke ….saying..’Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above.’ (Is. 7:11)

God is eager to confirm to us His word, to give us the confidence and assurance that YES we have heard His voice! No doubt! How easy it is to 'trust and obey' when you are sure God has spoken!

Gideon is the originator of our colloquial phrase “put out a fleece”. If he was going to accept the job offer he needed to be sure it was God offering it to him. He asked God for a ‘sign’, not once but twice and then when he was still unsure but too embarrassed to ask God a third time, God who knows the insecurities of our hearts, offered him a third sign - one so clear that it removed all doubt from Gideon’s mind. (Judges 6)

When Hezekiah begged God for his life and God said he would give him 15 more years, Hezekiah asked for a sign that God’s promise would come true. He requested that the sun go backward ten degrees. God gave him the sign. (II Kings 20:10,11)

While God is never impatient with men/women who desire a sign to be sure that it is God’s voice they have heard, He does become angry with those who desire a sign for the sake of the sign.
Jesus was very abrupt with the scribes and Pharisees who came to Him and said, “Teacher, we want a sign.” Jesus answered, “An evil and adulterous generation…shall be given no sign.” (Matt.12:39)

I recognize that our biblical fellow saints did not have the written word as we have it, and the only ways they had to confirm they were making a right decision was to seek the Lord’s word through a prophet or receive a sign from God.
Today, we cannot ask for a sign simply because we are too lazy to study what God has already clearly portrayed in His word. But when our desire is to choose the best.. to be obedient to what we believe God is saying to us, I believe that God delights in us asking for a sign.

I have asked so many times and God has always answered.

A couple of years ago when my husband began to be serious about selling our property my heart sank…it was the last thing I wanted to do. I did not believe I would ever be as happy anywhere else. So I began to pray and ask that God would give me a sign that He was directing our move. In fact I asked Him to spare me looking - that if He wanted us to move - it would just ‘fall into our lap’. And it did. He gave me not one sign but many! I felt like Gideon!
Maybe I will share that story in another post!

When I worked at Eatons, I had an hour for lunch, or an hour at supper time depending on my shift. I did not want to waste that hour just sitting in the staff room and do small talk. So I began to pray that God would send people my way to share the hour with, people that I could help or encourage or comfort or direct toward God. And they began to come. It was rare that I had a lunch hour alone, in fact, I sometimes had more than one person wanting to share my break.
The first time it happened I was in a quandary. I had made an appointment for lunch, but shortly before my break started, I received a tearful call from someone who needed a shoulder to cry on. Could I please meet them for lunch. I could not find it in my heart to say no, and even though I already had made a commitment to someone else I said yes.
Hanging up I thought, what have I done? I can’t be in two places at once! I did not know which one of my two appointments was the most important.
Immediately I prayed. “Lord, I have gotten myself in a mess… I don’t know which of the two people You want me to meet with. I ask you to work it out. Cause one of them to cancel so that I will be free to meet with the one You chose for today.”
I felt strangely at peace and waited. The phone rang… it was my original lunch partner calling to say that something unexpected had come up and she could not come after all… could she come tomorrow instead. I assured her that was fine with me, and brushed aside her apologies.
That happened several times, and while I was told by some people that I was behaving in rather an irresponsible way, I never felt that God minded. When I would look up and say, “Well, it happened again!” He would just smile down and work it out – every time!

I believe that God is eager to guide us and direct our paths in a way that we clearly understand. Do we not do the same for our children?

James 1:5 is still true today..”If any of you lack wisdom, let his ask of God, that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not!!”
ASK ! and see if God will not confirm His personal word to you, so that you can walk in confident obedience!

A Dream Come True

There is a coloured thread that runs through each of our lives. The colour is distinctively ours alone – it is the theme that characterizes our life purpose.
Though we may go through much of our life unaware of the thread, God does give us glimpses of it occasionally as it weaves in and through our lives. Often the glimpse comes as a desire, as a dream we dare to dream but not realistically hope that it come to pass.

I got an e-mail today from a dear friend.
Betty got the first glimpse of the colour of her thread when she was four years old.
One night she had a dream. She dreamed that there was a knock on the front door of her home and when she opened the door…there was a baby on the doorstep.
She knew from that moment on that she was going to take care of babies.

She grew up, married and had three boys of her own. As her youngest son neared his second birthday, she realized her last baby was growing up and her God-given desire to nurture babies again rose up in her heart. She and her husband decided that they would become foster parents.
And they did.
Over the years she took care of over 50 babies/children, most of them born with fetal alcohol syndrome. Some of her babies she cared for as long as five years.
My friend, Betty, was a rare kind of foster mom. Each baby that was placed in her arms claimed her heart as securely as one born to her. She loved them and gave them the best care. She often had 3-5 babies at a time, but it was with grace and a supernatural calm that she kept everything in order. Whenever you saw her… either in her home or out of it… the children looked like they were on their way to a photo shoot. Betty herself always looked like she stepped out a fashion magazine. I was in awe of her. Her joyful attitude of service ruled over a spotless home and well behaved children.

One thing was without question. She was true to her ‘thread’ of purpose.
Each child was prayed over and taught to pray. Her desire for each one was that when they were taken from her care that they would go with a deposit of God-consciousness in their hearts that would keep them under the shelter of God’s love.

When you step foot into Betty’s home one of the first things that catches your eye is a shelf built specifically for the purpose of displaying framed pictures of all her children. She knows every one of them by name and still prays for them.

Betty’s years of being a foster mom were far from easy. Working with the child-welfare authorities was often an exercise in frustration…the more so because the ones who suffered were the little ones who had no defence. Betty was their advocate but often her hands were tied.
Over the years I walked the path with her, sharing her joys, her tears, her frustrations, her justified anger and stood as a prayer partner to hold her needs up to God.
Often Betty would wonder if she was making a lasting difference in her childrens’ lives.
I remember one particularly discouraging time… and we prayed that God would give Betty some hope, some indication that her efforts were not in vain.
At the time she had a little blonde, blue-eyed, three year old boy that Betty and her husband wanted to adopt. But it was not to be.
The little boy was only16% native but he was made the test case in the court battle that decided that native children could not be placed for adoption in white homes – never mind that he did not look native, and that he was over 80% white.
I don’t have to describe to you the pain and agony Betty suffered over having to let this child go so he could be adopted into a native home.
She did not know how much, if anything, this child had absorbed of her gentle teaching about Jesus. He spoke very little.
One day she was sitting on some bleachers with this little boy, watching her sons play baseball. She was feeling despondent and worrying about what would become of this beloved child sitting beside her. Suddenly, without any fanfare he did something he had never done before. He stood up and began to sing Jesus loves Me.
Betty had her sign from God.

Betty had a dream. She wanted to take care of black babies… always hoping that the next baby placed in her arms would be a little black girl.
We prayed…we asked…but it never happened.
She had another dream… go to Africa! I remember times we would talk about it , but it always seemed a very unrealistic dream. There was just too much that stood in the way – not the least of which was the financial cost.
I remember praying asking God for a miracle so that Betty could have her dream come true. She had given so selflessly of herself for sooo many years… was having this dream come true so much to ask?

A few years ago I began to see a restlessness, a discontent that I had never seen in Betty before. She began to call me talking about how the mounting frustrations with the ministry had taken away her joy in being a foster mom.
I sensed that perhaps God was saying her years as a foster mom were completed. But understandably, Betty was reluctant to acknowledge that – it was what she had done for so many years – and it had been her joyful fulfillment. She tried switching to older children, but it just wasn’t the same anymore.
Finally, she and her husband made the decision. They were resigning their contract with the ministry.
Their sons were marrying and grandchildren were on the horizon. Timing was perfect.
God led Betty in other directions and she is content.
She is now able to devote herself more fully to her family than she would have ever been able to do if she was still a foster mom. The babies she holds in her arms now, no one will ever take away. They are her own grandchildren.

I got an e-mail from her today.
Her life-long dream of going to Africa is going to happen!!
Years ago, God gave her the glimpse and ignited the dream…. Then filed it under future!
The timing couldn’t be more perfect!!
She is going for three weeks this fall, with her best friend and an outreach team from her church.
She will be spending 7-10 days in an orphanage!! She can hold black babies to her heart’s content!! (If she comes home with one hidden in her suitcase, I won't be surprised!)
She will also experience the excitement of a safari and relaxing time on the beach.

I had forgotten her dream, it has been years since we even talked about it… and I’m sure she had tucked it away as well….but God had not forgotten!!
This is her well deserved reward! I am sooo thrilled for her.


How wonderfully God is involved in our lives…orchestrating all things to work together for our good! And delighting to give us above and beyond our wildest dreams.

I share Betty's story with you as a well deserved tribute to her but also as an encouragement to you.
If you have a dream that has deep roots in your heart, one you have ‘forgotten’ because it seemed impossible that it could ever come true – take heart and know that God does not forget and His timing is perfect.
Keep faith, watch and wait! If the dream was a glimpse of God’s ‘thread’ of purpose in your life….it will come to pass!

What's Not to Love about Spring!

It was a lovely spring day today.
Too beautiful to stay indoors so I walked outside and listened to the ‘sermon’ echoing all around me.


I looked at all the Dandelions. They are considered a nuisance weed where I live, but I think they are beautiful and they adorn all my childhood summer memories.
Consider the Dandelion – listen to its sermon.
It is an outrageously joyous giver. Every part of the plant.. the flower, the stem, the leaves, the root are all good to eat!
Its beautiful flower head is golden, just like the Son that gives it life.
And you cannot keep a Dandelion from fulfilling its God-given purpose -just to bloom, where ever and when ever it can! Every where!
Run over it with a lawn mower, pull it out by the roots…it will be back tomorrow as happy as ever it was. The Dandelion refuses to worry, it is unconcerned with man's opinion, it does not fear death - for in death it reaches farther than it ever did in life, its white fluffy seeds flung far and wide to start the joyous cycle all over again.

Oh, if all Christians were like the Dandelion! What a world this would be!!

I looked at the flowers that are all out in bloom. I still have tulips, which I love. They are so beautiful - like cups lifted up to be filled with God’s glory.

Are we beautiful to God like tulips? Do we lift up our heads and hearts to be filled anew each morning with His wisdom and love, and grace?
I looked with awe at the detailing and intricate design and color of each flower. If God took such care in fashioning each one of them, how infinitely much more He must care for us!

“Consider the lilies of the field……will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matt. 6:30)

I saw the pine cones in bloom - no the picture is not from Christmas- but it is a picture of the celebration of new life.

In each of those pine cones, God has carefully folded like origami a fully grown tree! Who but God could conceive of such a thing?

And I thought - God by His Spirit has hidden something wonderful in each of His children – “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us!” (II Cor. 4:7)

Just as the pine cones do not look like the beautiful tree they have the potential to be, so we also do not (in our flesh) resemble what we shall one day be - but if we allow Christ to shine through us then truly we will be “transformed into the same image from glory to glory !” (II Cor. 3:18)

I watched the American Goldfinch at the feeder. I tried to get close, but he was shy and sharp-eyed. Every time I tried to sneak up…. he saw me and flew off.
I wanted a picture so badly, I asked God to please bring him back so I could snap him.

A few minutes later, there he was and sat facing me so I could see his eyes and his little ‘hat’. What a beautiful little creature he is!! How beautifully clothed ! Each feather in place and so delightful coloured in golden yellow and black.

How many generations of Goldfinches have there been ? and yet the colors have not faded!

Thank you, Lord for making such a lovely bird. And yet He says,
“Look at the birds of the air….. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt.6:26)

Do we , as the Goldfinch, glorify God in our ‘every day’ garb? Does our countenance, our demeanor, our soul shine forth to give thanks and honor to Him? Do we make the statement…”I am a creation of God’s glory and grace?”
“Do not let your beauty be that outward adorning……but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God!” (I Peter 3:3,4)

Spring time to me is always a sermon about renewal - the proof that God is a God of mercy and forgiveness – daily offering us a new beginning.
God’s promise that He is the Lord of resurrected Life is celebrated and joyfully proclaimed everywhere.
One day we will know perfection…. Until then, spring portrays it better than anything else .

“Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6)

The Unjust Steward

Perhaps the most difficult to understand of Jesus’ parables is the one about the unjust steward found in Luke 16. But if we look at it carefully, it is not so difficult after all and of course has a message for us from Jesus’ own mouth.

The parable.
There was once upon a time a very rich man who entrusted the managing of his financial affairs to a steward. This steward ingratiated himself with his employer who trusted him completely.
But the steward was taking advantage of his position by misappropriating funds and lining his own pockets.
It seems his master never noticed but someone who did brought accusations against him. The steward was called to face the music and while his master seems somewhat reluctant to do so he told the steward to ‘clean out his office’, his employment was terminated – no recourse.

It is interesting to see the steward’s reaction. We see no repentance or self defence…he accepts his judgement but immediately reacts true to character - considering his options.
He could take a job digging.
Manual labour?? Forget it! He is a desk-man.
Beg? Beneath him!!
So how can he turn this to his best advantage?
It does not take him long to come up with a plan. He has had years of experience of looking out for his own best interests.
Wasting no time, he calls into his office, one by one, those who are in his master’s debt – those who lease or rent premises from him – and one by one he lowers their rent or amount owing. He reasons that he can ‘buy’ his future security – by helping them financially they will surely be happy to take him in when he is soon-to-be-homeless.

There is no generosity of heart in his actions, no intention of making amends, although perhaps he WAS in truth only lowering their rent or debt to where it should have been in the first place. Perhaps he was only reversing the exorbitant amount he had added to their debt – that showed up well in his master’s money coffers but also allowed him to make his own pockets heavy.
Now he was ‘buying’ with his master’s money a ‘pension’ plan.

When his master heard of what the unjust steward did, he gave him his grudging admiration. He chuckled at his ingenuity and slapped him on the back – perhaps sorry to see him go.

Jesus always used situations or life experiences that the common people in his audience would understand. And then He used his story to clarify the spiritual truth He was teaching.
The common people in Jesus’ day totally understood the ‘unjust steward’. They all had to deal with dishonest tax collectors.

At first glance, we are surprised that Jesus seems to commend the actions of this unjust steward. Is Jesus condoning shady business practices?? Hardly! To understand what He is saying we need to look a little closer.

What Jesus pointed out as admirable in the unjust steward was that he took advantage of what he had been given to ensure his security and future habitation. In that, Jesus says, he, as a child of darkness was wiser than many children of the light.

Let’s unwrap the parable and look closer at its interpretation and meaning for us.

The master is of course God. The unjust steward is you and me. God has given into our stewardship all that we have, whether it be much or little and has left it in our hands to see what we will do with it.
The day comes, in each of our lives that we realize we stand accused before God.
Satan, our accuser, is ever ready to point out that we are unjust in all our ways. We have no defence, we are guilty and God knows the truth. And so we realize that one day soon our stewardship will be taken away from us… this life will be over. We will leave this life, as the unjust steward left his position, with nothing.
So we are faced with the decision of what we will do. Simply face the inevitable, and take what comes? Make no provisions for our well-being on the other side?
Or will we take the example of the unjust steward and with haste and diligence use what God has entrusted to us to ensure for us a secure and eternal habitation.

It is interesting how Jesus weaves into His story truths that at first glance are not even noticed. The unjust steward’s reactions are full of meaning.
In considering his options he declares he is incapable of manual labour. That is also our declaration. There is no ‘work’ that we can do to earn our salvation, our eternal habitation is built by God – we can add nothing of ourselves.
The unjust steward also found begging abhorrent. We do not have to beg for our eternal well being – it is a gift that God offers freely to those who believe in Him.
Even the master's reluctance to terminate the steward..."What is this I hear of you?" has an echo of God's heart...He has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked". (Ez.33:11)

Jesus gives us the advice that “we are to make friends of unrighteous mammon”.
How do we do that?
The things of this world will one day pass away and the things of this world are ‘unrighteous mammon’ in comparison to eternal riches. But if we USE them to serve others , if we “through patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honour, immortality”, we will find the door to our heavenly home open to welcome us. (Rom.2:7)
And just as the master of the unjust steward commended him, so we also will have the praise of God. (I Cor. 4:5)
If we are faithful with what we have been entrusted with here, then we will be entrusted with much on the other side.

Our thought to ponder for the day…. How can I use what God has entrusted to me to serve Him and others?? - thereby storing up for myself "treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches, nor moth destroys.” (Luke 12:33)