God's Fingerprints

There are Fingerprints from God in your life everyday all day, simply because He loves us. If we’re not actively looking for his fingerprints, we may not recognize them, but some are so big that it would be impossible for them to go unnoticed. These are the moments that you want to harness because they offer life-changing, faith-growing power! To me this is what Faithbooking is all about! As we remember these times and recognize God’s fingerprints in all of our experiences, our faith grows and our confidence about the future grows.

We are watching the Inspiration Gallery for layouts that have recorded God's Fingerprints in your life. Occasionally, we will spotlight God's Fingerprints here on the Faith Sisters Blog!

Our first Spotlight goes to Becky for her Jeremiah 29:11 layout. What an inspiring story! Thank you Becky for sharing God's Fingerprints in your life. Please leave some love for Becky in the comments!

The journaling reads:
"This weekend, I was given the privilege of attending the Calvary Chapel Ontario Women's Retreat. I told my friends Nicki & Dana that I just felt like I needed a spiritual recharge. I had hoped that this weekend would give me the little boost I needed to press on.

The Lord is so amazing.

Not only did He give me a "little boost"....He gave me that and more. I really and truly came away with a heart overflowing with a knowledge that the Lord loves me, individually and distinctly. That He truly hears and speaks to me - and that He desires to have an even more intimate relationship with me than I can even fathom.

The reason for the title? Because although the theme of this retreat was "Beloved of God", the theme for me ended up being Jeremiah 29:11.

A friend of mine awhile ago sent me a beautiful keepsake with Jeremiah 29:11 on it. The verse just spoke to my heart....at the time things were feeling very bleak, and I was at that point where I was wondering if God had forgotten all about me. It's given me comfort every time I read it....and this weekend, I guess the Lord just needed to remind me again that He truly doesn't want to harm me...that his plans are to give me hope and a future.

From the start of this weekend to the very end, the Lord just kept sending this verse to me over and over. I have to write it out because it just amazed me how He kept speaking it over and over to me....if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have believed it myself.

Here's how it happened:
On my way home from work Friday, I had to stop by the local Christian bookstore to pick up a coffee mug for the mug exchange we were having at the retreat. As I was looking around at the mugs, I happened to glance down at the checkbook covers. The cover on the top of the pile had Jeremiah 29:11 printed on it. I read the verse, smiled, picked up the cover, and purchased it. It felt like such a great reminder as I was headed to pick up my friend Nicki, who was waiting for me at my home to travel up with me, that the Lord had something wonderful in mind for this weekend. Little did I know that things were just beginning.

Part of my "job" at the retreat was to help Nicki with the bookstore that she was operating at the retreat. As we were unpacking and setting things up, I started to open the box of coffee mugs she brought up for sale. Looking down, I saw a mug I had seen a few weeks ago when we visited our home church...a pretty aqua colored mug with Jeremiah 29:11 printed on the outside. I quickly set the mug aside and purchased it.

Saturday morning, as Nicki and I left to go down from our cabin to the bookstore, her husband Gary texted her the verse of the day....and she just smiled and held the phone over to me.

The verse was Jeremiah 29:11.
I couldn't believe it.

We had several sessions of wonderful teaching from the Word while we were there this weekend. In the first two sessions, Jeremiah 29:11 was mentioned again at each one. At this point, I started to really see that the Lord really was reminding me of something He had spoken to me through my friend awhile ago when she sent me that gift. I started really thinking about the words of the verse in a way I hadn't before.

After the Saturday morning session, we were given the opportunity to spend an hour and a half in private study and prayer time with the Lord. Our pastor's wife gave us a little pre-printed study guide....and as I worked through it, I saw that same theme running through that I'd seen all weekend long. I loved that quiet time with the Lord...and when I finished the study, I just started reading randomly in my Bible. I found myself drawn yet again to Jeremiah...but this time, instead of stopping at the end of verse 11, I continued on. What I saw there in the next two verses continued to drive home what the Lord had been trying to tell me:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jer. 29:12-13

Wow. Not only was He telling me over and over again that His plans for me were to give me hope and a future....but that once I realized that and stopped wandering around in my own devices and my own self-pity and sadness, that I would call upon Him. That I would pray to Him.....and that in turn, He would hear me. Not only would He hear me, He would listen to me. That was so powerful to me. I thought about my kids....and how sometimes I will hear them...and how that is so different from listening to them. Here was God, telling me that He would listen to me. All I needed to do was know what His plan was for me, and then call up on Him...and come to Him.

And then there was verse 13. Yes, I would seek Him...but I wouldn't find Him unless I sought with all my heart. Not just the part I wanted to use. Not just the parts I thought were "worthy" of Him. ALL my heart. And when I did....I'd find Him.

I sat there by the creek bank, and poured my heart out to my God as I came to that realization of what He had been trying to tell me all along. I thanked Him for showing me those things...for loving me even when I don't deserve it (which is all the time). When I looked down at my watch and realized it was time to move on to the day's other activities, I was sad. I didn't want to leave that precious time with Him.

Well, the weekend continued....and again and again, in each session, Jeremiah 29:11 was mentioned. This morning, in our last session, as I looked up at our pastor's wife as she was giving the message, she read the verse yet again. I was sitting next to Nicki, who witnessed all of this as well....and she just squeezed me and smiled. She knew. I knew.

As we got ready to break up for the day, our pastor's wife invited us to stand and share something that the Lord had done for us this weekend, or something that meant a great deal to us about the events. I wasn't sure I would be able to express what I wanted to say...but I knew I had to stand and give praise to my Lord, who continues to drive home messages to me over and over again...and to tell Him that I finally got the message He was trying to tell me in Jeremiah.

This evening as I got home and finally got around to checking my email, Nicki had sent me an email. It was Jeremiah 29:11 again.

Thank you Lord.
Thank You for driving home a point, even if I am sometimes so slow and stubborn in my own ways that You have to do it over and over again. Thank You for not giving up on me...and for giving me such an amazing weekend to grow closer to You.

I can't even begin to put into words all this weekend meant to me. I feel renewed. Recharged. Ready to support my sweetheart in this calling the Lord has placed on his heart for the ministry. Wherever it takes us.

Because I KNOW that the Lord has good plans for me.
Because He loves me."