Assignment: Cultivating Godly Wonder

Wonder

Wow this journal assignment brings back memories of some amazing experiences.

1. An experience of wonder that you had outside of ministry, whether as a child or more recently.

My earliest personal memory of God was as a little child at prayer time.  Prayer time for me was like the opening of wonderland. I would say my prayers then climb into bed, yet it was if I was let out to play.  Saying my prayers, at night, initiated play time for me and Jesus/God.  The specifics are not clear, but the overarching feeling was comfort, value, belonging and acceptance.  The way God looked at me and indulged me I knew I was loved and prized.

God and I played long, we played hard.  We would run and jump, play in the dirt, play marbles roll down grassy hills and pick wild flowers yet I was in bed.  Play time with God was amazing. This experience with God is dear and precious to me and shared hardly ever.
Many years later when I encountered that sense again I knew I found my home / my personal place in God again.


2. An experience of wonder that you have had within the context of ministry or theological reflection.

I am currently surrounded by a season of wonder.  The season is tremendous. It feels like a culmination of many prayers answered and an explosion of extra all at once.  Daily I receive packages, gifts exemplifying His character and peeks into His personhood.  Tears of amazement every day often multiple times a day.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.  ~ 1 Cor 2:9


3. A moment of wonder that you had this week.

This week I had the unusual experience of sensing a relationship between God and someone setting on a pew next to me.  The sense of their exchange was precious and tender.  A word I would use is pretty.  Meaning delicate but not fleeting or fragile.  There seem to be a beauty of basking in light and the worshiper had the feel of joy emanating from them.  It was amazing and beautiful, and I felt honored and humbled that I could be a witness to such a beautiful exchange.


4. What do you do to remain open to an encounter with wonder?

There are so many stories I could tell about God moving in my life and the lives of those around me both private and public.  The occurrences themselves leave an indelible imprint within beyond my ability to articulate all of what happened or its impact.  What is true is that the experience may be arguable, yet the experience remains irrefutable.  The mere experience opens my ability to glimpse God and that is extremely intriguing for me.

Those encounters encourage my hunger and thirsty for God, so I search for Him in everything.  Here are a few of my undergirding scriptures:

• Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. ~Matt 6:33
• But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ~Heb 11:6
• Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. ~Matt 7:7-8