For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose.” Philippines 2:13
They were everywhere but nowhere to be found. A couple of months ago, Judy and I went to a pastor’s conference over in North Carolina. It’s just a little far to travel in one day, so we always choose to stay a night on the road and one of our favorite spots is Cookeville, Tennessee. It is a little over an hour outside Nashville and has several good places to eat and stay. We usually stay at an Airbnb since it provides a little more space and sometimes it offers a little bit more.
This find was Judy’s and that probably explains why we spent more than we normally do. The place was located on a small scenic river and featured two waterfalls within a hundred yards of the property. One was bigger and one was smaller—both were awesome. The smaller one had several rock features but only fell about ten feet. Its big brother, on the other hand, fell about fifty feet and was massive. It’s funny because they both had the same amount of water to work with but, you know, the farther the water falls the more impressive it seems.
Because of the falls and because the area around the river was rocky, the ground was covered with tons (both literally and figuratively) of small rocks. There were all shapes, many colors, and sizes. Most were fist-size or smaller but here is the best part. Scattered around and in all the rocks were a heavy sprinkling of fossils. Most were of ancient water plants that had become trapped in the sediment and slowly, over time, became fossilized. There were all kinds, and since they were so unique—I just had to have some. So, Judy and I went hunting.
From the get-go, it seemed she was better at it than me and soon she was shouting, “Here’s one, here’s another.” Well, that caused me to look harder than ever. Well, before long, we both had plenty, and they are now on display in my office at home. But here’s what is amazing and what prompted this short story with a big truth. The fact is they were everywhere but there were so many rocks to poke through it was just hard to find them. They were there but they were well camouflaged…looking a lot like their rock brothers and sisters. Making it even harder was the fact that one side of a rock might have a cool fossil and the other—nothing. The only choice was to keep looking and keep turning over as many stones as possible.
Isn’t that just like life? We look for this or that and sometimes we become frustrated and give up and behold—it was right in front of our face the entire time. That is never truer than with God things. We think God has turned off the blessing faucet when the truth is we just aren’t looking close enough…hard enough…and we give up. Well, let me encourage you to keep flipping those rocks over because you never know what might be on the other side.
Sometimes the answer to our prayer or our miracle is just one stone flip away. God loves to bless His children so don’t give up and don’t be surprised if you find yourself staring a blessing in the face. Paul wrote, “For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose.” In other words, don’t give up…He’s working, and He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 