Get Your Hopes Up!

Do you like this picture? It is what I found when I did a google image search of the word "hope"! I kinda liked it, so I added it to this post....just wish it were bigger!

I have many stresses in my life right now. My health, my husband being out of a job, and my workload being a little bit high right now. That are the "added" stresses, that would be on top of the already "regular" ones like just being a mom of a teen and pre-teen, running a household, working full-time, and working on my clinical license. All I know is I've FELT the weight on my shoulders. I keep trying to give it all to God but I would somehow hold some back or take some back. Foolish, I know! I learned on Sunday that worry is the illusion of being in control....whoa that hit me hard. Jamie! Why do you feel like you need to be in control?

At any rate, let me tell you about an encounter I had with God. This past Friday, I went to pick up my daughter from school. I got there a little early, so I started reading a little book. It is a condensed version of Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God. She talked about how God is trying to communicate with us...we just need to "lean in and listen." So, I said, "Okay, God, I'm listening!" I looked up and my eyes fell on a the car in front of me. It had words stenciled in its back window. The words: GET YOUR HOPES UP! Suddenly, I felt like God was saying those words directly to me. Wow! I like that message from Him! I put my hand over my heart and let them sink in. Then, I had a little fun with it....

I looked at the car really closely and started wondering....is that you God or one of your angels driving the car? or is it just someone here on earth that you are using? does anyone else see the car? does anyone else see the message? if that is you God, what are you reading? (The man in the car, was reading very intently....so much so at one point, he didn't move forward when everyone else did....what would Almighty be so engrossed in reading?)

Then I looked even more at the car. Interesting that God would be driving a Nissan Altima with a cracked windshield, and with a bumper sticker that says, "I'd rather be driving a Titleist." Is God a golfer? And I never saw the man's face, but the back of his bald head with sunglasses perched on top. Who would God be picking up from school? Hmmmm...the thoughts were racing.

I picked up my daughter, and as she got in the car....I had to ask her some questions. I asked if she'd ever seen that car before. She said no. I asked if she could read the words in the window. She could. And the curiosity got the better of her, so she asked me why. So, I said, "I think that might be God." She accepted that fine. Then thinking out loud, I said, "I wonder who God would be picking up from school...." She did not miss a beat! She said, "Probably a Mexican kid named Jesus!"

Yes, my 12 year old is pretty witty, huh? Incidentally, I had to pass the car and drive off. I never saw who the car was there to pick up, if anyone....