little reminders

Sometimes God gives me little reminders of Himself at just the right moments ... reminders that He is so much bigger & greater than anything I encounter, that He loves me, and that He will be right beside me throughout this sometimes messy journey called life... 

Sometimes the reminders are amazing friends and family that care and call at exactly the right moment, sometimes it's a verse that seems to specifically speak to my heart, or it's a song... sometimes it's a sunset, or the ocean (well, or the breathtaking Illinois River around here... ha) or it's a thunderstorm, or the wind... sometimes it's watching a family together, hearing a child laugh, seeing an older couple that's still so in love, or watching people worship with everything that's in them...  it can be all kinds of really random things... they're all around and sometimes I just need to stop and take a look around me... 

Today as I was on my way to work the song "You Never Let Go" by Matt Redman came on... It's probably one of my all time favorite worship songs...  As I listened, I was reminded of His promises and felt Him saying, "Bethany, there will be lots of storms... life will get messy, it'll be hard, and you won't always understand... But Bethany, I'm not going to let you go and you won't have to go it alone...I love you... You don't have to be afraid... and I need you to open your hands and rely and trust in Me..." It's so easy for me to want to write things like this off as coincidences, but I know that I heard this song at the exact moment that I really needed to hear it... 

PS- This is a picture of my old desk at CAT with all the things that I had to remember not to forget... ha. 

PSS- ... no, this isn't really my desk... but sadly, it did probably look a lot like this... I mean, how else was I supposed to remember what all those crazy business acroynms stood for?... ah, memories...