Allow God to Work in Your Life

"Creativity is God's gift to us. Using it is our gift back to God."

Just recently, I joined a reading group that was working with a book called The Artists' Way. I refer to is as "working" because there are weekly tasks and assignments to do. The book is an interactive experience that is best done in a group.

I ended up finding this book incredibly helpful, and I think its message can extend out to anyone, not just those in creative fields. 

One of the main features of this course is to work creatively as a means of glorifying God.

Within this idea of collaborating with God is to keep a close awareness of how He works—particularly in the "mysterious ways."

In order to do this, the author asks readers to really pay attention to things that can be looked at as coincidental. Yet she doesn't believe in coincidence.

This reminded me of a phrase my mother taught me: nothing is coincidental, it's "Godcidental." So in essence this course urged me to pay attention to the Godcidental moments. 

Once I started to pay attention, these moments appeared everywhere. There were periods where things lined up so nicely, it often gave me chills. I still get them, even now, writing this.

Some of these things were major, like finding a job for instance.

I went to lunch with a friend one afternoon and I happened to be carrying my résumé. My friend ran into a long-lost friend while we were waiting for a table. It just so happened this friend works in a law firm that needed freelance editors and proofreaders. I handed over my résumé, we shook hands and she said she'd be in touch. Within a week I was editing proofs from my laptop. Godcidental moment, indeed!

Other things are more subtle.

A sequence of tiny Godcidental moments—that happened over the course of nearly two years—led me to my current relationship.

Although I didn't piece them all together until I started doing this course, what impacted me was that my heart was open to each Godcidental moment. If I hadn't, we'd never have met. And that would have been the biggest loss that I can think of. 

In retrospect, I now see that when I wasn't dating, I was constantly aware of what was missing in my life, instead of looking at the blessings I had in front of me.

At some point things changed. At that time, I kept saying that I was going to put my love life into His hands, but I'm not sure I could've meant it if I was looking at what I lacked. Over a long time, I surrendered to His will and wasn't even aware of it. 

One effective technique I started two years ago was the daily gratitude list. It really shifts the attention away from "lack" and focuses on the abundance of gifts He gives us.

Over time, that opened me up to seeing possibilities within what I already had and was grateful for. It is within exploring these possibilities that we begin to use our creativity to glorify His work.

If you are feeling defeated or have lost hope in your search, try shifting your focus. Paying attention to tiny possibilities just might lead to greater things, even if it takes two years, even if it takes a lifetime. My heart is with you on this one.