God-Sighting Saturday

God Sighting Saturday

August 31, 2013 Rebekah Freed

A FEW of the MANY ways I witness God at work in the last week:

Standing at the back of the sanctuary at the beginning of worship services last weekend and noticing the ways the kids were worshiping. Kids singing, kids clapping, kids putting money in the offering, kids standing on parents laps to be able to see God at work making a baby His own through baptism.
Hearing this song on the radio multiple times in a few days (and I don’t drive much)… magnified by the fact that a lot of my devotion times lately have been about words and using them to encourage and build up, to communicate grace, and to speak words that make souls stronger.
Seeing His creativity and sense of humor at the zoo.
Protection and provision for a teammate who fell at work this week.
Encouragement from friends through texts and emails.
Awesome teammates.
Jesus being tender with my doubts.
Multiple medical test results for family and friends returned with good news, God’s comfort, or both.
Little kids giggling 🙂
Music.
Time with a couple of amazing women to share ice cream and life.
God’s Word meeting me right where I’m at.

Thank you God for showing up every day! In the big things and the small things… you are there. Open my eyes to see more of you!

God-Sighting Saturday, Running

Runnin’ the Race {God-Sighting Saturday}

May 18, 2013 Rebekah Freed

To celebrate my birthday I signed up for a 5K in Niagara Falls. 25 years ago I took my first breath and as I did, doctors were busy telling my parents that I wouldn’t take very many more. I was too small and my lungs were too fragile. Today many of my favorite things to do (run, sing, etc.) all take incredible lung power. Every time I stop and think about it, it amazes me.

I’ve learned a lot of things about life and faith while running. Today was no exception. The first God Sighting of the day was that my bib number “just happened” to be number 25. How fitting. But there were three other neat ways in which I saw God today:

1. Not even a half mile into the race I saw a dad running with his son that couldn’t have been more that 5-6 years old. The son was already starting to lag behind. You could tell from what the dad was saying they had prepared for this and that the father knew the son could keep up with the pace the dad was setting. After about a minute of encouraging and prompting, the dad simply said, “Here, grab my hand” and they continued on together, hand in hand.

Isn’t that like our Heavenly Daddy? He knows what we can do even when we’re a little scared and overwhelmed and wondering if we can do it. He encourages. He prompts. And when we need it the most, He reminds us that we can always just grab onto His hand. He’s not going to leave us behind. He’s not going to get mad, He’s going to do whatever it takes to get us to the finish line.

2. The past couple of weeks I have been overwhelmed by reminders of how blessed I am, especially with relationships and “family” here in New York. All I can say is there can’t be anything much more encouraging than your 2 adorable preschool neighbors standing on the side of the road with their awesome parents cheering “Go Bekah, Go! You can do it!” and greeting you at the finish lines with big hugs!

3. The third story is somewhat similar to the first. About a half mile into the race I set pace behind an older gentleman. From what I could tell, it seemed that he was running just about the pace I wanted to be running in order to get a decent time. Early on I made it my goal to stick with him and finish with him at least in sight. (Which I did!) So for a good 2 miles of the race I remained just a few steps behind. Around the 1 mile mark I began to realize how awesome this man was. First of all, he thanked ever police officer or volunteer we passed that was standing on the side of the road directing traffic and keeping us safe. But, then, I was surprised and thankful when he began pointing out all the potholes or rough spots in the road. It was often, but I could be sure that as long as I was following behind this gentleman, nothing was going to come as a surprise along the path.

Once again, I see God in this. He’s running a pace that may push me at times, but is never too much. As I keep my eyes and focus on Him, he runs along with me pointing out all the places where I could easily trip and get hurt. Sometimes the road gets steep and it’s a LONG UPHILL CLIMB and other times I’m just relaxing into a long stride for the downhills, but no matter what the road brings, our God is faithful to lead and guide and protect.

God-Sighting Saturday

God Sighting Saturday

February 23, 2013February 22, 2013 Rebekah Freed

I cannot count the ways in which I’ve seen God at work in the last week, but I figured it was worth a shot trying. 🙂 In no particular order, thank you God for showing up in:

1. Peace and calm during times that could have been overwhelming and hectic
2. Friends to laugh with, cry with, read God’s Word with, share meals with, and just do life with
3. Hugs
4. Homemade cinnamon rolls with my great-grandma’s recipe to share with friends
5. Reminders of my calling in Christ (picture below)
6. Prayers in an empty apartment moments after a moving truck rolls away; thanksgiving for time that was; expectancy for what’s to come
7. New friends, old friends, near friend, far friends
8. Lenten Prayers: Cover Me, Search Me, Break Me, Stretch Me, Lead Me, Use Me, Restore Me
9. Phone conversations with my family
10. Technology that allows me to watch my my niece color and show me her bracelets on my phone
11. Pictures of my nice holding her daddy’s hand after 9 months apart while he was deployed
12. Answered prayers… again and again and again
13. The honor of praying for and encouraging a few of the high school students as they reach out to hurting friends
14. Parents passionate about encouraging their children in their faith journeys
15. A warm comfy home, to enjoy and share and find sanctuary in
16. Colored pens making God’s Word come alive!
17. A new journal (and a chance to look back over God’s work in the months chronicled in the old one.
18. Hour long text conversations and prayers
19. Slaves rescued and lives changed
20. Laughter with teammates… lots of it!
21. Leftovers for lunch
22. Restored joy
23. Lingering Christmas decorations
24. Space heaters
25. Grace. Irresistible Grace.

And the list could go on and on and on…

God is present. He is near. He is alive and active. He loves us …. a lot! 🙂

#5 – “I have called you by name…”

God-Sighting Saturday

Reminders {God-Sighting Saturday}

February 2, 2013February 2, 2013 Rebekah Freed

This week I saw God every day in a friend who constantly points me to a HIM, the One who is bigger than anything I could face this week… Even if that means leaving a reminder on my microwave….

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in His love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” Zephaniah 3:17

31 Days of Intentionality, God-Sighting Saturday

“What else?” – God-Sighting Saturday {Day 13 – Intentionality}

October 13, 2012 Rebekah Freed

It all happened so quick that one Thursday morning. Right between breakfast and getting ready to head off to work. It could have easily slipped away, and yet it didn’t. It happened…. and it was beautiful.

I thought back to all those conversations in college with a mentor and friend who was intentional about the way conversations would end. “What else?” he’d always ask… just to see if there was anything else you wanted or needed to share. Again and again he’d ask until the awkward “I don’t know… nothing else I guess” would surface. He never leaves a conversation until he knows you are done… you’ve shared what you need to share.

And on that Thursday morning, something prompted me to ask God the same question… to linger a little longer and make sure He was finished. As I closed my Bible and got up to go on with my day after my devotions, I found myself sitting back down for a second and simply asking, “Anything else, God?”

And His reply blew me away and brought me to tears:

“Actually, yes. Thanks for asking.
I just wanted to remind you that I love you. Have a great day, my daughter!”

And to think I almost missed it.

First Trinity, God-Sighting Saturday, Music

Scripture and Song… So Beautiful Together! [God Sighting Saturday]

September 15, 2012September 15, 2012 Rebekah Freed

I am so excited for the 40 Days in the Word study that’s starting THIS week at First Trinity! Our first sermon in the series was last weekend and the first of the classes started about 20 minutes ago in another part of the building. I am already seeing God doing amazing things in this for our congregation and can’t wait to see all the ways He shows up in the next 40 days.

One aspect of the study is memorizing a Bible passage each week. It’s important for us to hide God’s Word in our heart so that it’s there when we need it. However, some people feel as if they don’t have the skill to do that. While they are short verses and it would be easy to just tell people to get over the fear and just DO it, I thought of ways that may help people. I love music and one of my favorite ways (and one of the easiest ways for me) to hide God’s Word in my heart is when it’s put to music. So, I decided to compose a song with each week’s memory verse so that I could hide it in my heart and if I’m already doing that much, why not share it with others? So here it is! Week 1’s memory verse put to music:

(If you’re viewing this in a blog reader of some kind, you may have to actually go to my blog website to listen to the song.)

I had a lot of fun with this first one. I especially found myself thinking about this week’s method of studying Scripture which is the “pronounce it” method. In this practice you emphasize and then reflect on each major word in the passage to ponder what that specific word tells you about the passage as a whole. Through repetition, dynamics, and melody, this emphasis on each word is easy to do through music and I had fun trying to bring out each word in a different way throughout the song. Obviously these songs are going to be short and repetitive because I want to stick with what’s written, but I hope that in the long run, that helps… that these songs get stuck in our heads and we find ourselves singing them throughout the day reminding us of God’s Word and it’s place in our life. I am also excited about the fact that I may have gotten a few others to join in the composing process for the 6 weeks ahead! (If you want in, let me know!)

Enjoy and keep your eyes open… God’s going to do great things in the next 40 days! Feel free to share what you’re learning about this verse or God’s Word in general in the comments section.

Bekah's Heart, God-Sighting Saturday

God-Sighting Saturday – Family

September 8, 2012 Rebekah Freed

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families…” – Psalm 68:5-6a

Lonely… not a fun place to be. Thankfully, it is not a word I often use to describe myself. However, it easily could be.

Just over two years ago I moved halfway across the country from anything I had ever considered “home.” The closest relatives geographically were still almost 650 miles away and I knew not a single soul in the place that would SOON be “home.” I was leaving a college community of friends who had become closer than I could have ever imagined, surrounded 24/7 by other girls in my apartment and dorm and heading off to a 2-bedroom apartment that housed only me, myself, and I. That physical space expanded 6 months ago when I moved into a 3 bedroom house. I still get weird looks from anyone who finds out that I don’t have any roommates or even a dog or cat to share that space.

Oh sure, there are plenty of reasons why one might assume “lonely” is a label I often wear, but they must have forgotten this beautiful promise made by our God in His holy dwelling.