Lisa notes

“The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.”
– Paulo Coelho

R—Raw

When have you felt raw? Overly sensitive. Jumpy. Thin-skinned.

I admit; with politics right now, I’m a little touchy.

Perhaps you’ve had or are in a season of feeling vulnerable, too.

• Maybe you’ve been hurt in a relationship.
• Or had a church experience go bad.
• Or are questioning where God is in your circumstance.

Regardless of the reason, we all relate to times we’ve felt tender or exposed.

How can God use these times to pull us closer to him?

Try This

Think of an area in your life where you feel extra touchy.

• How would you feel if you could see a year down the road, and know all will be well?
• Would your current responses be different if you stripped away any defensive postures?
• What would it take for you to feel safe again?
• Can you be more patient with yourself as you heal?

Pray for God to sit with you in your rawness. He knows your circumstance and your heart better than you do. Be as compassionate to yourself as he is to you.

Allow his love to surround your tender emotions and strengthen you with his protection today.

Then do the same tomorrow.

Learn More

• The Art of Vulnerability 
  How to open up when the world tells you to retreat
• Learning to Grieve—Together
  What the church can learn from Jewish mourning traditions
• Brené Brown: How Vulnerability Holds the Key to Emotional Intimacy
  And shame sabotages our desire for closeness.

* * *

What is a touchy subject for you right now? Please share in the comments.

Coming up tomorrow:

• S – Sickness
  Where is God in our sickness?

If you’d like to receive 26 Surprising Ways by email, sign up here.

“The best teachers show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see.”
– Alexandra K. Trenfor

Q—Questions

We often think God is only in the answers. But sometimes we can connect more with him in the questions. In the unknowns. That’s when we reach out to him with our why’s and how’s and when’s.

Try This

Have a conversation with God using just questions. How would you fill in the blanks? Try to think of questions you haven’t already asked him.

• Why, God, is _____ ?
• How, God,  will _____ ?
• When, God, is _____ ?

Now look back at your questions. What do they reveal to you about what you think about God? About your relationship with him? About what you expect him to know or do?

Use this exercise as an invitation into previously unexplored areas with God.

Learn More

• The Powerful Possibilities in Pondering Questions
  “Answers lure us into comfort ruts while questions energize us to explore deeper and newer horizons.” – Jean Wise
• Ask One More Question
  I had one final question for Gary if he had time to answer it.
• How Asking Questions Can Be an Act of Worship
  Loving God with your mind is a command.

* * *

What question would you like to ask God? Please share in the comments.

Coming up tomorrow:

• R – Raw
  When have you felt tender or exposed?

If you’d like to receive 26 Surprising Ways by email, sign up here.

“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
– E. B. White

P—Portals

Portals are openings. Windows. Doors. Gates.

They lead us from one space into another. They are “thin places,” the places where we see God enter a situation and make his presence known, even when we weren’t watching for him. 

Portals can look different for each of us at different times.

Perhaps you’ve seen these openings, these portals, in these ways:

• The lyrics in a worship song you’re singing at church
• A friend’s text that shows up just when you need it
• A surprise gift on your front porch

Regardless of the form they take, these portals give us a glimpse into heavenly places. They leave a lasting impression on our souls that God is truly here and now.

Try This

While we can’t necessarily create these portals, we can stay alert for them.

As you go about your routine tasks today, look for openings that God wants to reveal himself through:

• a conversation around the dinner table
• background music on your drive home
• a Bible verse popping into your mind
• formation of clouds out your window
• children at play in your neighborhood

When you sense the opening of God’s presence, dive into the encounter. These are gifts of grace. Unwrap the gifts and enjoy them to the fullest. 

Learn More

• Thin Places
  A Biblical investigation of all sides of how we define “thin places”
• Take an Inner Vacation
  Quotes from Christine Valters Paintner’s book, The Soul of a Pilgrim
• Oh, God, the Places You Show Up
  The cab of his truck became holy ground that night. Jesus was incarnated in two more human beings.

* * *

Where have you seen an unexpected glimpse of God lately? Please share in the comments.

Coming up next:

• Q – Questions
  We often think of God in the answers. But what about the questions?

“Uniqueness is what makes you the most beautiful.”
– Lea Michele

O—Oddities

Normal doesn’t always catch our eye. When things or people are in place, in order, we tend not to notice.

What we do notice is the unusual.

To God, we’re all unusual. He notices us.

• When we feel slightly out of place, he knows.
• When our life isn’t quite in order, he cares.
• When things aren’t going as we planned, he pays attention.

Try This

Look around your physical space. What’s out of place? Is something not where it’s supposed to be? Ask yourself why. And what you plan to do about it, if anything.

Then pray about your spiritual space.

• Is there an unusual person in your circle that needs your attention?
• Does someone’s circumstances need your prayer time?
• Is God showing up in an odd place where you least expected?
• What feels off in your own soul? Can you encounter God there?

Just as we can’t predict life, we can’t predict where God will plant gifts of grace for us. Look for his gifts of presence and love in the odd spaces of your life today. Be grateful for the peculiar and uncommon ways that he is showing up.

Learn More

• Who Will Be Your Divine Encounter?
  Let each intersection with another person be a delightful encounter, intentionally orchestrated by God.
• Find the Weird One
  Once a week, we find Darryl sitting alone by his dirty window with the door unlocked. We may not know it, but he’s just what we need.
• When Spirits Intersect
  Something felt different with her. Sacred meetings are thin places, the spiritual world intersecting with the physical world, reminding us that there is more.

* * *

What feels out of place in your world today? How do you see God at work in it? Please share in the comments.

Coming up tomorrow:

• P – Portals
  Where are the thin places where God has a foot in the door in your life?

If you’d like to receive 26 Surprising Ways by email, sign up here.

“The only thing that is ultimately real about your journey is the step that you are taking at this moment.”
– Eckhart Tolle

N—Now

Right now, what are you thinking?

Is it something from yesterday or the past? Or is it about tomorrow and the future?

Most of us have a time orientation. We can fall into one of three main categories:

• past-oriented,
• present-oriented, or
• future-oriented (that’s me and much of America).

Our orientation toward time drastically affects where our thoughts linger. [Read The Time Paradox for fascinating information on this. Quotes and my review here. Take the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory here to determine your own time type.]

As we age, our perspective of the speed of time also changes.  The older we get, the faster time flies, right?

But regardless of how we view time, the only moment we’re ever in is this one. This moment. Right now.

Every other moment in time is either already lived or can’t yet be reached.

Because this is the moment we’re in, this is the moment we encounter God the most vividly.

This very moment is where God is most at work in us, breathing, thinking, feeling.

Try This

Let go of past and future thoughts. Think only of this second.

• What sounds are you hearing?
• What sensations are in your body?
• What are you seeing, smelling, or tasting in this moment?

These are all things that God is hearing, sensing, seeing, smelling, and tasting with you.

Stay aware.

What is the one thing that God most wants you to do or be in this moment?

This is your moment of encounter.

Learn More

• 4 Lessons on Living in the Now
  How can we learn to live more in the now? Here are 4 lessons I learned last year about living in the “Now,” my One Word 2015.
• 5 Ways to Stay in the Now
  How to live more in the moment while still visiting the past and future. Quotes included from Eckhart Tolle’s, The Power of Now.
• God Is Present Now
  Includes quotes from Frank Laubach’s classic, Letters by a a Modern Mystic
• Time in Different Cultures
  A fascinating article on how a cultures’ values are often reflected in their tempo of life.

* * *

Do you think more about the past or the future? Or do you stay mainly in the present? Please share in the comments.

Coming up tomorrow:

• O – Oddities
  How can you find God in the odd things of your life?

If you’d like to receive 26 Surprising Ways by email, sign up here.