Deadnettle called Archangel

Signs that Encourage and Guide

I found my house
Surrounded
With Deadnettle,
Only,
It’s called ‘Archangel,’
After St. Michael.

Only Abba Father knows what that name means
To my wounded heart.

This:
A sign
Of His love
and
Protection.

(3 April 2024)

Do you ever have a moment where you know, you just know, that you’re being watched?

And not in a sinister way, or a creepy way, but in a something-bigger-than-me-understands-me kind of way?

That’s what receiving a sign is like for me. It’s something too pointed to my unique situation be a coincidence, yet something subtle enough it could easily be missed without intentional awareness.

A lot of people walk right by signs the Lord is trying to give them, and still others write them off as happenstance. At this point in my faith walk, I no longer believe in coincidence, or happenstance, serendipity, chance, or luck. Once you ‘tune in’ to the world around you, you start to see patterns emerging everywhere.

The way you keep running into the same word or phrase, every time you turn around.

How you come across the same item (like a flower, or tool) in the oddest of places, under the strangest circumstances, over and over and over.

Or you repeatedly hear and see the same reference to something that has unique meaning to you, in situations that it wouldn’t normally appear.

The Bible shows us God is always speaking to us. Jesus was fond of the phrase, “For those who have ears to hear, let them hear” after he had just shared a coded truth or parable. We can cultivate our ability to ‘hear,’ just as surely as a musician can strengthen their ability to produce notes on pitch. Most musicians aren’t born with an innate sense of which pitches are in tune and which are out of tune — it’s a skill honed with practice. And such is the case with learning how to see God’s fingerprints around you — awareness can be cultivated.

But it first must come with the acceptance that yes, He is deeply involved in the daily goings-on of our humble lives (Psalm 37:23 — the NLT has a beautiful presentation of this verse).

When I’m out exploring the wilderness areas, I like to pay attention to where my focus is being drawn, and then ask Him, “What are You saying?” As an artist, it becomes a deeply intimate and profound part of my relationship with the Lord to commit sketches of the things He shows me into the pages of my worn journals. As I settle into the contemplative quiet of a sketch, I find Him often, whispering healing to my heart or courage into my soul. Guidance for future prayers and intercession. Revelation on situations or spiritual truths.

It’s a beautiful thing, to be seen. To know you’re not alone on the journey through life.

This is one of the many ways the Father loves us.