QuickTwist
Permanent Fixture
First, I want to mention @Fruiteloop, because they may be interested in this based on some things they have said.
For so long, I felt like God's presence was special and rare. That God did act through miracles and such, but it was not common. I just trusted God was good.
Lately, this presupposition of mine has started to be reversed. This is not at all because God has changed, and perhaps not even because I have changed. More like God is tearing away the veil so I can "see." Hard to describe.
Words can't really do justice to what I am saying here. If I had tried to describe this before I experienced it myself, I don't think I would have actually gotten it.
The basic idea is that God is working all the time. Not just on some rare occasions, but always. Small things, big things, all things.
It's like things have been peeled back and now I am in a better position to see what God is doing.
I'll try to give some examples.
First, while my sensing as an INFJ is very, very poor, I have noticed some patterns in what happens to who at my apartment complex.
Person A does something they shouldn't.
Person B does something to person A they shouldn't.
Then person C does something to person B they shouldn't.
For so long, I thought these sorts of things were completely and utterly random. Just a natural consequence of life.
But then I realized... God is an avenger.
Rom. 12:19 ESV
"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”"
There are also examples of this exact sort of thing happening with whole kingdoms in the Bible. I am not doing any post hoc rationalization of what I read in the Bible here. I saw it happen IRL before I ever realized that God works this way in the Bible.
Is. 10:6, 12 ESV
"Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes."
Literally, God controls the Assyrian army to punish Israel, and then God punishes the Assyrians for punishing Israel.
I always read this as a sort of story about God's providence. But if you actually pay attention, these things are happening all the time to people.
Another example.
I almost never pay my pharmacy bill. I usually wait till it is a decent amount, then pay it all.
But, funny enough, I went to pay it online and found that my bill was already paid. I know I didn't pay it. IDK who paid it, but it wasn't me. I have the paperwork for a $15 bill and a $27 bill before that, which I never paid either.
What I do know is that I recently increased my giving to my church, and I would like to start making a monthly donation to Open Door on September 1 for persecuted Christians.
And it is like God rewarded me by my bill being taken care of without me needing to pay it. IDK if you can call that a miracle, but it is sure an interesting coincidence, to say the least.
There are other things... small things... that I notice that show just how involved God is with His creation here on this tiny blue dot we call Earth.
For so long, I felt like God's presence was special and rare. That God did act through miracles and such, but it was not common. I just trusted God was good.
Lately, this presupposition of mine has started to be reversed. This is not at all because God has changed, and perhaps not even because I have changed. More like God is tearing away the veil so I can "see." Hard to describe.
Words can't really do justice to what I am saying here. If I had tried to describe this before I experienced it myself, I don't think I would have actually gotten it.
The basic idea is that God is working all the time. Not just on some rare occasions, but always. Small things, big things, all things.
It's like things have been peeled back and now I am in a better position to see what God is doing.
I'll try to give some examples.
First, while my sensing as an INFJ is very, very poor, I have noticed some patterns in what happens to who at my apartment complex.
Person A does something they shouldn't.
Person B does something to person A they shouldn't.
Then person C does something to person B they shouldn't.
For so long, I thought these sorts of things were completely and utterly random. Just a natural consequence of life.
But then I realized... God is an avenger.
Rom. 12:19 ESV
"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”"
There are also examples of this exact sort of thing happening with whole kingdoms in the Bible. I am not doing any post hoc rationalization of what I read in the Bible here. I saw it happen IRL before I ever realized that God works this way in the Bible.
Is. 10:6, 12 ESV
"Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes."
Literally, God controls the Assyrian army to punish Israel, and then God punishes the Assyrians for punishing Israel.
I always read this as a sort of story about God's providence. But if you actually pay attention, these things are happening all the time to people.
Another example.
I almost never pay my pharmacy bill. I usually wait till it is a decent amount, then pay it all.
But, funny enough, I went to pay it online and found that my bill was already paid. I know I didn't pay it. IDK who paid it, but it wasn't me. I have the paperwork for a $15 bill and a $27 bill before that, which I never paid either.
What I do know is that I recently increased my giving to my church, and I would like to start making a monthly donation to Open Door on September 1 for persecuted Christians.
And it is like God rewarded me by my bill being taken care of without me needing to pay it. IDK if you can call that a miracle, but it is sure an interesting coincidence, to say the least.
There are other things... small things... that I notice that show just how involved God is with His creation here on this tiny blue dot we call Earth.
