the ways He gets our attention

The women's Bible study I attend on Thursday nights has been studying a book about living above worry and stress. I've considered myself someone who's been doing much better in the worry department lately, but every once in awhile, one of those creeps in... like not being sure whether or not I have a job in the fall. I stress about finances. I stress about when we're going to have our own place and be "independent" again. Those moments don't last too long because I'm getting better about hearing His voice of calm and rest...but the moments are still there, and I don't want them to be there at all.

This week's particular chapter was on "blessings in disguise". It talked about various points in the Scriptures where God used extraordinary things to get the attention of certain people...Jonah and the big fish, Moses and the burning bush, etc. And at the end of the chapter, it asked us what God has used to get our attention lately.

For some reason, the first thing I thought of was all these negative things lately, not giving me a quick answer about my job, making us wait to be on our own, missing friends (particularly as I ended the school year and miss the girls I worked with). All negative things to teach me how to draw closer to Him. But as one lady in the group started sharing about how things like birds singing in trees had gotten her attention lately...I felt ashamed.

I slowly started to realize as I sat there what it was that God was really using to get my attention lately. Things like beautiful sunsets in Indiana that I had missed for so many years. Summer thunderstorms rolling across the fields. A student at school who has this amazing heart for others and wants to help them anyway he can. And a woodpecker. For the past week, we've had a woodpecker in one of the trees in the backyard. I don't remember ever seeing a woodpecker before, and here one just shows up. He's there quite a bit, working on a hole I'm assuming, and I just find it so interesting. He's a smaller than I would have expected, but he can make a lot of noise with his little beak. And if you get right under the tree and look straight up, you can see his little head as he pecks away. It's really neat. And it's just another thing that God has used to get my attention.

What is He using to get your attention lately?