Everyday Awe

Something happened this past weekend that I just can’t shake. My mind keeps going back to it over and over again. I’m still in shock! On Friday evening, a friend from my Bible Study group sent a text asking for prayer for a friend of hers. This friend was in the middle of a medical emergency. She was awake but unresponsive and there were few answers for healing. Text updates continued through the night, but the prognosis was not good. Her condition seemed to be life-threatening. We all vowed to pray for this situation. I couldn’t begin to imagine what her husband, her young daughter, and her close friends and family were going through as they waited to find out what was going on and how she was doing. We continued to pray as we read more updates coming in throughout the evening. Then, the next morning, our Bible Study group received this text message:

“I woke up about 30 min ago to a text from her!! She said she woke up around 4 this morning. Has no memory of anything. But she’s feeling okay this morning. Weak but nothing else. I am not sure what transpired during the night. I do know that our Bunco group took turns waking up every hour through the night to pray, so Jesus was definitely hearing us. She said doctors aren’t sure what happened.”

I know what happened… a miracle! I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I was to receive this text on Saturday morning. As soon as I read it, the waterworks turned on. I was just so amazed, so happy, so... full of awe! What an honor it was to have a front-row seat to watch God’s handiwork. I just couldn’t get over it… I’m still not over it! Have you ever experienced something like this?

Everyday Awe

As I went throughout my day on Saturday, still replaying what had happened in my mind, the word AWE kept coming back to me over and over. I thought about what an incredible event I had just witnessed and how amazed I was by God’s immediate answer to all the intercessory prayers offered on this sweet lady’s behalf.

Google dictionary defines awe as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” Merriam-Webster offers these synonyms for awe: admiration, astonishment, amazement, wonder, wonderment. These all encompass the state I was in… the state I’m still in after this experience.

On his first Sunday at our church, my pastor said, “We should live in a state of amazement.” He also shared that the most common reaction of people around Jesus was amazement. The awe and amazement I experienced was from a place of desperation that lead to a place of a miraculous wonder. But it got me thinking, “Why am I so shocked? Don’t I know that God is omnipotent (all powerful)? Don’t I know that He still performs miracles? Shouldn’t I be in awe of Him everyday for the wonders I’m surrounded by?”

I recently had a conversation with a group of ladies about the beauty of a sunset. The older I get, the more amazed I am by the exquisite colors God paints across the sky in the evening. My kids make fun of me because as I drive and watch the beauty of God’s creation in the form of an array of vibrant colors along the horizon, I sigh and they might even hear me say, “Mmmmm!!!” over and over as the colors change. It’s just so beautiful! Our God makes that happen. One of the ladies in the group made a comment I’d never thought about. She said that the sunset really has no other purpose than to bring us delight.

Think about that for a moment. What else in your life do you have to be in awe of? In Hebrews 12:28, it is written,

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”

We are to constantly approach God with a thankful heart from a posture of reverence and awe. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always operate from a position of awe. When my mind is focused on the negative, thinking of what I don’t have and what I want, or griping about this or that, I am forgetting all I have to be grateful for.

Bonus

There is a lot of research lately about how gratitude literally changes our brain. In the article “The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How it Affects Anxiety and Grief,” it states, “When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside. By consciously practicing gratitude everyday, we can help these neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful and positive nature within ourselves.”

It is even noted in this article that when gratitude is practiced everyday, the positive affects are comparable to medication. I’m not suggesting that we should be in awe of the Lord because of how it benefits us. We should be in awe of the Lord as a natural reaction to who He is, how He has blessed us, and how He has transformed our lives, giving us hope, peace, joy, and so much more. The effects of being in awe and being grateful are just simply bonus!

Being in Awe of the Little Things and the Big

I started this post by writing about a big, amazing, jaw-dropping miracle I got to witness. This is what really got me thinking about the posture of awe. But it led me to think about being in awe of the everyday things- things we might see as little, but they’re really a big deal. Many nights, when I lay my head on my pillow and close my eyes, I thank God for the day he’s given me. Every once in a while, when I do this, my mind will wander and I’ll think of all the things that could’ve gone wrong. We could’ve had a car accident, a family or friend could’ve gotten sick, my husband or I could’ve lost our jobs, one of our children could’ve gotten hurt… the list goes on. I think of the numerous ways something bad could’ve happened. You may think this seems morbid, but it reminds me of the hundreds, or thousands, or millions of ways things went right that day.

Living in a state of awe reminds us how truly blessed we are and how incredibly magnificent our God is.

• Did you wake up this morning with breath in your lungs? Be in awe!

• Did you get to go to work today and help provide for your family? Be in awe!

• Do you have family and/or friends who love you? Be in awe!

• Do you have a personal relationship with God who grants you eternal life? Be in awe!

• Is your heart still beating? Be in awe!

• Do you have tons of laundry to do because you have children at home? Be in awe! (Yep- I’m still working on this one!)

I don’t know what you're currently going through: marital problems, financial problems, job problems, family problems, friend problems, health problems? What I do know is focusing on what we have to be grateful for and reminding ourselves to be in awe instead of being in aww (insert sad face) totally changes our outlook. It changes our relationship with the Lord and with one another. Apparently, it even changes our brain for the better. I realize that each one of you reading this right now could make a list of what is not going well in your life right now. But I feel confident if you also made a list of all your blessings and everything you have in your life to be in awe of God for, the second list would far outweigh the first.

What would happen if you actually did this? If you took out a piece of paper and a pen and you actually wrote out every single blessing you could think of, what would happen? I feel certain your current status as depicted by emojis would change after your blessings reflection. We have a choice every day to step into the day with a thankful heart in awe of God’s provisions or to step into the day with a grumbling heart, focused on everything that’s wrong with the world. Which one will you choose? I wish it was a one and done, but it doesn’t work that way. We have to make the decision daily, sometimes hourly or even by the minute.

Are you still alive to read this? Be in awe, my friends!

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8