Have you ever missed God working in your life? I have. And I almost missed another one recently.

I have been in a major cleaning mode, straightening, rearranging, throwing out, etc. I was cleaning out a basket beside my bed where I store devotional books, Bibles, notebooks and other things when I came across a flag tucked in the side. I just sat down hard on the floor and stared in wonder. Now, this is no great flag to look at. It's just a 1/4" dowel with a piece of white material attached to it. Written on it, in my own handwriting, is the word "JOB" in all caps with the date March 17th, 2007 underneath. And then my signature. That's it. Why is that so earth shattering you ask? To explain that, I'll need to take you back to March 16th, 2007.

I was attending a women's retreat put on by our church district. I was feeling really good. I wasn't going for any divine spiritual revelation or healing. I was going to have fun and hoping to get closer to some women in our church. Now, this is the same women's retreat that motivated me to start this blog and to title it as I did (See first entry) so you know God didn't let me off that easy!

That first night as the speaker was talking of surrender and what we might need to surrender to God, I felt Him telling me I needed to surrender my job to Him. No, I needed to give up the coffee shop for Him. I was so startled I didn't believe it. My job? My job was 3-4 shifts a week working at a coffee shop. Not a big deal, but it was the only extra income coming in at the moment and my husbands job was barely paying the bills and necessities. I had been cleaning houses for about 6 months, but found out my body wasn't made for that when my shoulder gave out on me. I remember thinking, "I gave up the cleaning houses and now You want me to give up the coffee shop too? And then what do we do?"

I fought it until the last session, when the speaker gave out these little flags. The white flag of surrender. She asked us to write something that we felt God had been asking us to surrender to Him. Date it and sign it. So, even knowing what God will do when we surrender things to Him, I wrote "JOB" and left it at that.

And really didn't think of again until one night in July when I saw the flag again. God had taken care of everything perfectly. If you have read the other entries, you know that I now have a job at the school in the library. That job came up just 4 weeks after I signed that flag. I had never looked at that being significant until I found it this summer. What if I hadn't been able to surrender the coffee shop to God? Would I have held onto it so tightly that I missed the other opportunity? I don't know and I don't live in, "What if's". I just say, "Thank you" and trust Him a little more each day.

Psalm46:1-3
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though the water roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah