Tag Archive for: details

Signatures

“That simply cannot be…” I thought puzzlingly to myself – “another 𝒄𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆?”
Let me explain……
Coincidence – “an occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that is unlikely and surprising”
Last Sunday, both Monic and I spoke in the Apeldoorn Stake Conference. I chose to speak on a question that is regularly posed to our missionaries, “During the past month, how have you seen the hand of the Lord in your work?”
In my talk, I shared a few quotes from a number of different missionaries in response to that question.
Regularly, in my daily journal writing I also record experiences that are simply beyond mere coincidence.
Quite frankly, in recent months I have seen this manifest…. constantly.
President Thomas S. Monson said, “When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are entitled to the Lord’s help.”

Signatures

In my personal library of good books, one of my favourites is “Divine Signatures.”
Author Gerald N. Lund learned that with the Lord, there are no coincidences, only sacred autographs.
“Sometimes the Lord sends his blessings in such a highly unusual way, dramatic or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a ‘divine signature,'” Lund writes. “It is as though the Lord ‘signs’ the blessing personally so that we will know with certainty that it comes from him. In doing so, God not only gives his blessing, but at the same time he strengthens our faith and deepens our testimony of him.”
I want to share my testimony of that (and I am choosing my words carefully) – 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭.
I am now a witness to the fact that, day in, day out, week in, week out, I see tender mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ and His divine signature manifest in the details of our missionary service, it is His confirming hand.
The Lord’s signature is in the details.
Yesterday, I had a personal testimony of another one to add to the list of a multitude of others.
A faith filled conversation in the morning, a faith filled action in the afternoon, manifest a remarkable coincidence or in essence a divine signature of the Lord only a few hours later in the evening.
And the result?
Another sure witness that The Lord is in the details of each of our lives.
I hope that we can all recognise the hand of the Lord in our lives and in everything around us.
Exercise your faith in Him, stop, pause and reflect, then ask yourself “how have I seen the Lord’s hand in my life today?”

Its all a matter of perspective

Recently, on a couple of instances, our attention has been drawn towards crickets.
Departing Eindhoven on Sunday, a cricket landed on the bonnet of our car, and stayed there for a few moments even after we drove off.
A few weeks earlier whilst in Belgium, we were momentarily distracted by a large cricket as we sat chatting with our hosts Angelo and Candice. We were assured that this was a small one, but for Monic and I, we thought it was huge!
It’s all a matter of perspective, I thought.
Some things look much different when you are up close.
Perspective is the way we see things, when we look at them from a certain distance. In that brief moment, we saw the true value of this remarkably large or small (depending upon your perspective) insect.
Each of us see things ever so slightly differently, dependent upon our own personal experiences in life.
For Monic and I our familiarity of crickets in life, has been almost nil. Thus this cricket was huge! Yet, for Angelo and Candice, it was at the opposite extreme on the spectrum of cricket experience and thus the cricket was small!
Fascinating!
In that brief moment, our eyesight drew us close to this captivating creature. Yet there was more a sense of awe, wonder and an appreciation of beauty in those few seconds of time, before it hopped off to find something much more interesting than our gawking eyes!
In this fast paced life, do we ever pause momentarily, just long enough to enjoy the simple little things?
Why not pause, reflect and stop long enough today, to really see some of those things that really matter most of all. It may just give you a new perspective on lots of things.
Enjoy your discoveries!