Hearing God in Life’s Little Moments

There have been many times in my life where I wished there was a direct line to God. How easy would that be to ask God the biggest questions in life?

–Why is this happening to me?
–What do you want me to do?
–What’s my purpose?

However wonderful that would be, that’s not what God intended for us. He wants us to search for Him and to call His name. In the good times and the bad, we were made to need Him, to put our faith in Him, and lean on Him.

I think so much of the time, we are looking for big life-changing moments where God’s voice speaks clearly to us in a voice strangely similar to James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman. But there is no phone number for Heaven and no mailbox to which we can send our requests.

Instead, God gifts us with moments.

If you’re like me, maybe the moments come as you pray on your knees in the shower sobbing through the worship music blaring in the background. It might be as your two-year-old daughter randomly says, “Don’t worry, Mama” as you go about your daily routine or when a song comes on at the perfect time as your mind drowns in worry.

Recently, there’s been a moment that stuck with me and I wanted to share it with you. My two-year-old daughter and I went outside to play on her swing set in the backyard. Our two dogs have the entire yard where they can relieve themselves. Can you guess where they choose to “make their mark?”

You guessed it.

Around the swing set. Of all places they could go and they choose places like the end of the slide or in front of the swings. This specific day, they had gone right next to the slide. In their defense, it was out of the normal route we take from the slide to the ladder.

My daughter, Nora, of course, noticed the pile and would not stop informing me of its presence. And no matter how many times I told her that it was okay and that we could walk around it, she chose to plant her feet right there and put all of her attention on it.

Long after we’d gone back inside, the moment stuck with me. And God did what he does:

He taught me a lesson.

Sometimes we focus so much on the negative in life that we don’t see the positive. My daughter was so focused on the pile of dog poop that she wouldn’t allow herself to simply walk around it and play on her swing set. She could have been swinging, sliding, and climbing but instead, she was standing pointing at a “present” left by her dogs.

I’m the kind of person who struggles to see the positive if the negative is weighing on my heart. I focus on the single negative comment or event instead of looking at all the good that has happened. God used this tiny mundane moment to remind me to stop looking at the bad and focus on the good.

Today, look at the positive and enjoy your life.

Don’t waste your time on things you can’t change. We have a God who can use something as lowly as a pile of poop to speak to us. Our lives are filled with these moments. We only need to keep our eyes up.

So, go swing and slide and climb. And, for goodness sakes, stop focusing on the poop.

**Check out my book, Dear Daughter, to read a moving story about hearing God through the hills and valleys of life.

You can also buy my book here while supporting independent bookstores! https://bookshop.org/shop/kgarrison_books