How to Recognize God Moments

God moments are real and are occurring all around us all of the time. They are happening whether we recognize them or not. In fact, I’m convinced we miss out on so many simply because we’re not aware of the indicators that help us recognize them. That awareness could differentiate between an average and an extraordinary day.

Watch the video

Here are a few that have always worked for me:

A Warm Heart Clears Cloudy Eyes

I’m amazed how much more focused I am in my daily routine with just the simple change in weather. The changing of the seasons brings me so much joy that I find myself smiling for no reason at all. And to be perfectly clear I am a member of #TeamColdWeather. There is nothing more satisfying to me than stepping out in what used to be the scorching Texas heat to feel a nice cool breeze on my face. My outlook gets better, my attitude gets better, everything gets better! Why? Because as strange as it sounds as the barometer goes down my spirit goes up. Certainly I can’t be the only one who feels this way! Right? I’m more creative, more constructive and I see things much more clearer simply by the shifting of the seasons. I feel like there’s nothing we can’t accomplish and I find myself building and dreaming even more in those seasons. When my heart is warm, my eyes are clearer and focused. What warms your heart? What makes you focus? What brings you joy? What wakes up your creativity?

Surround yourself with the things that uplift your spirit and watch how sensitive you become when God visits your life.

Opportunity Knocks in the strangest places

It’s often easy to look for and perceive God when things are calm. You just think about God and it seems as if He’s instantly right there. But it takes real effort to look for Him when it feels as if things are chaotic and He’s nowhere to be found. However, I’ve personally discovered that it’s in the chaotic moments of my life that I’ve seen Him move the most.

Many of the biggest doors that were opened in my life were on the heels of my greatest struggles. Many of my greatest victories were birthed out of my greatest defeats. Many of my greatest resources were found in the leanest of times because it is in those moments, when you finally realize that He’s all you’ve got, He then becomes everything that you’ll ever need.

Ask the majority of entrepreneurs and they’ll tell you their greatest ideas and concepts, even their businesses themselves came during difficult times when they had to act on sheer necessity. If that’s where you are at this moment, don’t lose your faith, flex it! When your back is up against the wall, start praying things like “thank You God for the opportunity You are trying to show me through this”.

Stretch yourself to not only trust Him in the calm but to find Him in the chaos.

When You Least Expect Them

One of the single most tangible moments that I absolutely knew was from God came to me through an iPad, a streaming video feed to a NICU and my mother. If it sounds like a strange combination, it was!

For years I had watched my rock, my real life angel of a mother wrestle with the devastating disease called Alzheimer’s. What started out as slight forgetfulness had grown into something much worse. On most days a myriad of endless questions of the same thing over and over like “When are we going to church? Did you pay my tithe? Am I going to see my great-grandson Jaden today?”, were a few that had become our norm. So many things about my Mom were changing yet so many things like her ability to stand strong in her faith were firmly the same.

It certainly came in handy when my grandson Mason was born with fluid on his lungs resulting in him spending the first few days of his life in the NICU. He needed a little extra TLC before going home. For 2 weeks all we could do was sit by his bed and wait. We prayed and believed God. On the days we couldn’t be there we were blessed to watch his tiny little self sleep via a streaming monitor in his room. I remember how helpless we felt at times peering into that iPad screen.

Early one morning as I was watching little Mason my mother walked into the room. She softly asked who I was looking at and I explained that our little miracle was going through some challenges and needed to stay a few extra days at the hospital. To my surprise my mother explained “we need to pray for him”. So right then and there we started praying. During her prayer she looked at me and continued on “I’m telling you that baby is going to be alright. Mark my words. I’m telling you, Sheryl, he’s going to be alright.”

I knew instantly in that moment that God had entered our space and something was so different.

You see, I’d heard her say this statement my entire life. When things got tough, no matter what our family was facing, she’d say “Mark my words, I’m telling you, it’s going to be alright”. Time stood still and my mother, completely in her right mind had given me the assurance I so desperately needed then. It was just enough from God to let me know He had us and that everything was going to be alright. It came from seemingly nowhere and when I least expected it. The moment became so memorable to me because He had used a very familiar voice from the past, to give me peace in the present, that everything in the future would be all right. God’s just good like that!

Let me encourage you today to trust Him. When you feel like you’ve done everything right to recognize God moments, and yet nothing is happening, rest assured that God can always find a way to visit you when you least expect it.

The Danger of Low Expectations

Let me close by asking you a question. What are you expecting God to do in your life? And I want you to really put some thought into that because there is such a danger in having low expectations. I get it. Life confronts us on all sides threatening to hold our hopes hostage and derail our dreams. It’s often difficult to survive the day let alone find the strength to build a future. However, please allow me to challenge you to resist the urge of lowering your expectations, buying into the idea that today is just another day, tomorrow will just be another tomorrow and where you are in life, right now, is as good as it’s going to get. Ephesians 3:20 states God can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. This is not the time to lower your expectations. This is the time to raise them.

Look for God. Look for God moments and I promise they will appear!

Written for Devotionals Daily by Sheryl Brady, author of Don’t Miss the Moment.

* * *

Your Turn

Don’t miss the moment! Let’s keep our eyes and hearts open to God Moments today and see what He does! Come share your thoughts with us on our blog. We want to hear about your God Moments! ~ Devotionals Daily