The Return To Wonderment

The Return To Wonderment

When was the last time you felt overcome with wonder? Holding a newborn baby? Or how about a moment when you were mysteriously protected in a car crash? Or a realization that you or someone you love had been miraculously healed?

Maybe those kinds of things are too rare.

It could be something more commonplace—a painted pink and purple sunset splashed around a rising moon. Or maybe when some quiet person at work cracks a really funny joke.

Somehow, wonderment fades as we get older. It begins to elude us. Nothing new under the sun…been there, done that. We gradually approach life with dull hearts. A light goes out.

Laney in bathYoung children, on the other hand, live in a constant state of wonder. I remember sitting for nearly an hour watching my young granddaughter discover the substance of water in the bathtub. Don’t get me wrong—it wasn’t her first bath.

I’d given her a small plastic bottle to play with. Over and over and over, she filled the bottle with water, watching the bubbles escape as they popped and sputtered. And if bubbles weren’t fascinating enough, there was more! Slowly, she poured out the water in a thin stream, making a different kind of sound and then studied how the clear substance vanished into the rest of the bath.

Water! Utterly captivating.

Lightbulb millionMy friend Robin had a teacher who wanted to expand the young minds of her students by giving them a concept of what a million looks like. The teacher said if anyone could make a million marks on paper, their grade would go up a level. Continue reading

Beholding

Beholding

When it happens to me, I feel fully alive. A momentary shift of perspective, sometimes intentional, sometimes a surprise. Often it’s a spiritual experience—even supernatural. What am I talking about?

Wonder.

The wonder of new lifeIt can occur in the most ordinary ways…a robin building her nest in the eaves of our front porch…tiny beaks appearing, open and hungry…the process of learning to fly.

The wonder of communicationOr how about my little ten-month-old granddaughter, lifting one hand to greet me. She’s on the cusp of forming words. I wonder at the miracle of language and the nuances of tiny gestures.

As author Anthony Doerr said, sublimity (is) “the instant when one thing is about to become something else. Day to night, caterpillar to butterfly. Fawn to doe. Experiment to result. Boy to man.”[i]

The wonder of creationWhen I watched Planet Earth, each episode inspired me to the point of worship. As it is written in Job, “Stand and consider the wonders of God. Do you know how God establishes them, and makes the lightning of His cloud to shine? Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds, the wonders of one perfect in knowledge? Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror? Out of the north comes golden splendor; around God is awesome majesty.”[ii]

I marvel at the historical formation of America. Bono of U2 put it this way…Continue reading

The Palm of God

The Palm of God

Dave’s throat was healed. Terry’s was not.

healing_of_the_blind_man

God healed people in the Bible—He can do it in our world, but we don’t have if we don’t ask…

It was November 1998.

One evening, my husband and I discussed all the reasons why we still hoped for Terry’s healing. A number of friends, along with us, had received numerous dreams, visions, Scriptures, and prophetic words. Dave’s miracle increased our faith to believe such things were possible. Terry had met with remarkable spiritual leaders—Paul Cain, Jack Deere, Mike Bickle—leaders who had prayed for and seen healings. We even attended a conference in Portland with Terry and his wife, Vanessa. Nearly a thousand people extended their hands toward Terry as the speaker prayed for his healing.

My heart cried out—What are you waiting for, Lord?

Around that time, I had a dream that Terry was in a burning building. The people holding the safety net were supposed to create equal tension on all sides in unison, making it safe for him to jump. Instead, the people were having a tug-of-war over the net—a pretty clear message.

Holding Holy BibleUnity had been a key ingredient in Dave’s healing. One visiting speaker discerned that the spirit of denominationalism in our town was very divisive. Perhaps God was waiting for the Body of Christ to come together in unity and reconciliation. Terry could be the catalyst for such a gathering.

Our home group put an ad in the local paper:Continue reading