Are You There God? It's Me, Rachel.

I remember a book from my "tween" years about a girl named Margaret who desperately wanted boobs. And she talked to God about it on a very regular basis! Boy to go back and have those "problems" again - piece of cake!

Do you ever look at another person's problems and wish your's could only be so small and trivial? But to that person, they seem monumental. And then God gently ~ or sometimes not so gently if you're stubborn like me ~ gives you a fresh perspective of someone with larger trials than yours. Well, the truth is, we all have trials, and we all have times that our picture of God gets a little fuzzy and we find ourselves asking "Are you there God? It's me!"

Of course, we know He's always there. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes ~ quite literally!

Right after my first husband and I split up I was scared. And I'll never forget my oldest son asking me "Who is going to be the man of our house now?" My answer to him was "God will be the man of this house". My son was around 9 years old at the time, and I could tell he wanted to step in and protect his mommy and take care of things, but I knew it would be an awesome opportunity for him to "See" God. We put a poster board up on the wall of our living room and each day the three of us would either write down how God took care of us that day, or we would put a picture up there or something as a reminder that God was with us. It was really awesome to see how my boys saw God.

One day, several weeks after the separation, my oldest son had gotten really sick and doubt was started to set in. He told me he wasn't seeing God as much. I prayed to God that morning, "Please reveal yourself to my child, God. I know you're there, but he's having a hard time seeing you and I need him to know everything is going to be o.k."

I didn't have a vehicle at the time, so I was borrowing my dad's truck. We drove to the doctor in Brownsburg, and it was such a beautiful fall day, I decided to take the back roads home and enjoy the beauty. We were out in the middle of nowhere and the truck just stopped. Right there in the middle of the road. My first reaction was "Great! I asked for you to reveal yourself, and now this? My son is sure to think you're not with us now!" Boy did I underestimate things! I looked over and he had bowed his little head and was praying (yes, I'm crying now even today as I'm writing this). He grabbed my hand and we prayed together. It seemed like we prayed for several minutes, just for God to take care of us. I promise you, this next part is true: we opened our eyes and there was a flatbed truck backing up to our truck. We just kinda looked at each other like it must be a dream. The man walked back to us, I rolled down my window and he said "It looks like you need some help". My son said to him "Hey... did you know that you're an answer to my prayer?" The guy smiled at us and said he hadn't heard that in a while. He told me he was going to Danville and asked where we were going. Where do you think we were going? Of course.... Danville! How awesome is our God?

We got home and I called my dad. I was very worried about the truck and knew I didn't have the money to fix it, but I was sure I had broken it. My dad began apologizing all over himself. He had forgotten to tell me the gas gauge was broken and it looked like it always had 3/4 of a tank. I laughed and laughed, and told my dad not to apologize. It had all happened just like it was supposed to happen that day.

I asked God to reveal himself, and he did in an unforgettable way! My son will never forget that day as long as he lives.

Look for God today.... I promise ~ you'll find him!