Signs and Wonders

I think that a lot of people don't understand Christians because of the way that they live for a God whom you can't see, or hear, or seemingly have any communication with. The idea just seems unrealistic to a skeptic like some...but, what they don't realize is that our God is more real than anything they have experienced, with the power to communicate, change minds, hearts, and lives.
This post was inspired by reading Lindsey's most recent one. I had been wanting to write it, but wasn't sure when to kind of randomly throw it in, but I am now.
I am definitely guilty of the frequent prayer to have God do something, or show me something, or just straight up audibly say something...which i wouldn't put past Him either...anyway, I feel like that isn't really the right way to handle things. I feel like i should trust Him enough to know that when something is supposed to happen it will, or if I'm supposed to do something I will just know. But, sometimes you just doubt, even some of the greatest people in the Bible did the same. I always think of Gideon when I start to ask for things like signs. I only could remember the gist of the story, so I looked it up [Judges 6]...and sometimes I think we are more like Gideon than we even realize.
Israel was at war with the Midianites. An angel of the Lord came to Gideon and told him stuff like, "the Lord is with you mighty warrior," "I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites all together"...now, I'm just gonna go ahead and say if an angel came to me and was telling me all this stuff, I'm pretty sure I'd be convinced at that point, but Gideon just wanted to make sure...he said "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please to not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." The Lord said, "I will wait until you return."
Long story short, the angel proved himself to be that of the Lord. and ya.
But, Gideon just wanted to be sure that what God was telling him to do was exactly right.
"If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised--look, I will place a wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know you will save Israel by my hand as you said."
Well, God didn't stutter, He knew what He said and meant it. The next day the wool had enough dew on it to wring it out and have a bowl of it. Then he said, "God, don't be angry with me, let me make one more request..." He asked God to do just the opposite as the day before, make the ground wet and the wool stays dry, and it was done. I would be kinda irritated with Gideon if I were, God...but, im not...and this is very good. But, id also have to be irritated with myself because I make similar requests sometimes. Not having to do with fleece or anything because that's a little strange, but with just signs in general.
Quick story and I'm done:
In about 7th grade I was in some drama with some people and just a lot was going on and it was a tough time for me. It was a pretty dumb thing. We had a singing group that would sing in chapel every Wed morning, and I had one of the mics during that time and those of us that had the mics were referred to as "the front line." Well, the lady in charge pulled me aside and said, until you get everything straightened out with all the drama and stuff I'm pulling you off of the front line. Lauren, you have a great voice, and I need you back on the front line. I really need you there. Well, that coming Sunday, there was a prophesying deal, not sure exactly how to phrase it. But they said, "...God needs you back on the front line of battle." [quick explanation: prophesy is just God speaking through someone to the church directly. I'm usually not too much in the middle of that stuff at church, I'm just pretty chill in that area, because that's just kind of how I was brought up, but that's what God chose to use to get to me.] Whether you believe in prophesying or not, every denomination, church, and person has their own beliefs on that controversial topic, and the very last thing I want to do is offend, but this happened, straight up, and it was directly to me in those exact words. God doesn't care where you are, He will get in contact with you and wake you up however he needs to at the time.
More recently, I was at Grandma's, and this was in the middle of a bad time, and I was looking through some book she had. I Opened up to a chapter and read, "Hang in there soldier." The last few words in that chapter. Like straight up. I felt like crying the whole thing was just so real. God was referring back to the front line/soldier analogy from a few years ago til now, knowing that it made a huge impact on me, and I would remember exactly what He was talking about. Some may be skeptical of the whole experience, but it happened...sometimes i dont like to tell that story, and ive only told it to a few people, but it's just part of a testimony and happened to fit right into this. It was real. Just like our God is real. Don't ever doubt his ability to get you on the line, or to show you exactly the kind of sign you're asking for because He will prove you wrong. You are his child, and what kind of parent would completely ignore their child in his/her time of great need? How much more does our heavenly Father love us than our earthly father? He is there always!
lovvvee much : )