Day 2 Blank Page Challenge - Seek and Find (Take 2)

Day 1 was all about looking inward for me. I sought the Lord in my thoughts and heart, hoping to hear his voice and finding answered prayer: He did mold my thoughts to yearn for Him more.

Day 2 is all about seeking Him outwardly. If the goal is to replace my plans with His plans, then, in addition to listening for His voice on the inside, I need to actively seek His plans for this day on the outside.

Psalm 118: 24-25 says “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success!”

Some days make it hard to rejoice and be glad. Perhaps this is why after the Psalmist says let us rejoice and be glad, he shouts "Save us!"

Yup, that's about right.

One of my favorite movies is About Time. There is a clip where the main character goes through an awful day and then goes back in time to re-live it looking for all the wonderful things he overlooked the first time around. It made me wonder how many “awful” days may have been really some of the most lovely if I had only stopped to notice the small good things, those things that are easy to overlook: the smile from a stranger, a toddler making adorable noises, a bird flying close overhead, a crisp blue sky, a slight breeze, an unexpected phone call from a friend, cotton on my skin, the smell of coffee... so many gifts God plants for me along the way in the midst of what could seem like drudgery to the untrained eye.

It is overwhelming to think that the Lord created each day and knows all my days before I live them out (Psalm 139:16). He has a plan that is bigger than me, that I can’t comprehend so I pray that He will show me, even in the most frustrating and most wonderful times, that His is the best plan.

I will pray to seek and find God in everything I experience. My prayer is to look for His hand in everything that happens and to listen more intently to the people I come into contact with since He might be whispering through them. I pray that when I’m met with inconvenience or stress on the surface, that I will search deeper for Him.

Like Day 1, I will start my day with prayer. It will be something like:

God, you said that I'd find you when I seek you with all my heart. Yesterday I prayed that you'd make my heart want you more and that you would train my brain to seek you more fully in every thought. Today I pray that you would reveal yourself and your plans to me throughout the mundane and the magical. I pray that you will open the eyes of my understanding so that I will be enlightened according to Ephesians 1:17-20 to learn more about how wonderful you are and your plans for me. I pray that you show me your provision if I feel lacking and that you let me grasp your outstretched hand if I feel lonely. I will look for you in new ways and I pray you will reveal your plans in all of them. Help me to see you in each moment. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

After I pray, I'll think about and write out a scripture that reminds me to look for God in all my experiences of the day. Psalm 139 is a beautiful reminder of God as the author of my life.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, in your book were written every one of them.

You can do something similar. Here are some other scriptures to choose from about God ordaining your day:

• John 1:3 - Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.

• Job 12:7-10 - But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

• Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

• Romans 1:20 - For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Throughout the rest of the day I'll write down - probably using Notes on my iPhone - all the ways God reveals Himself to me. I'll share my list here. I pray I'll have a ton to share - even super weird ones that no one else will get but me and Jesus and I pray you'll have some to share too. And secretly, (or not so secretly since I'm telling you) I'll also pray that you have super weird experiences with God too, it will make me feel more normal.