Hidden
A few weeks ago, my beloved phone went missing.
It happened in the space of about five minutes when I was dropping home to have a quick bite to eat, pick up my teenage son so he could do some job hunting, and then race back into town to continue working.
As soon as I realised it had gone missing, I calmly wandered from room to room, praying for Holy Spirit revelation to reveal its exact location! ....
Actually no, I did not do that at all.
I zigzagged like a crazy lady from room to outside to the car to another room - to rooms where I hadn't been ... totally gobsmacked that I could lose my phone in such a short space of time! I searched every nook and cranny of the kitchen, looked in the bin, in the pantry, in the fridge, in the sink, in every drawer, yelled at my son to look too, then ran to look under my bed.... I knew I had no reason to put my phone in the medicine cabinet while I had been eating lunch at the table - but it got a thorough check too.
I even looked in the bath!
As a last resort I spoke to the poor workman across the road asking if he had seen anyone suspicious wandering past my house in the last 10 minutes or so - who may have happened to venture into my house and steal my phone?
Yes I did that.
And so, after a futile & frustrating search, we drove to town - phoneless - and I spent the rest of the afternoon puzzled and wondering how my phone could vanish into thin air so quickly.
It's a weird feeling being stripped of your connection to the world. You almost feel instantly alone, unable to be contacted if someone suddenly needs you desperately - or in case there's a world crisis.
You are cut off. Almost hidden from society.
I have "Find my Friends" app on my phone - so it didn't take long to call (on my sons phone) my sisters and have my phone tracked. It was soon confirmed that my phone was in fact still alive and somewhere in my house (and not stolen by the workman or a random dog walker). So I could relax a little knowing with a more thorough search I would soon have my phone in my hand once again!
We finally got home (it seemed like more than just a few hours) and I searched again - to no avail.
Finally - after I had searched what seemed like every inch of the house - I decided to pray, desperate and remembering God knew where it was, and if I had slowed down at the beginning I may have been able to lean in and hear His gentle whisper & reminder.
I decided to retrace my steps to the car and sat in the drivers seat.
And then - I suddenly remembered a clue I had totally forgotten the whole afternoon. I'd decided when I arrived to clear out the old receipts from the car and took them with me to throw them away....
But I had checked the bin!
Surely not!?
So I took the whole bin out - and went to the big bin outside, and one by one started to remove every single content of the gross bins insides.... and there (right at the bottom) lay my phone. It had been hidden - covered in rice! (insert gross face emoji here)... When I threw my receipts in the bin I just let go of my phone - and it plummeted into the depths of the bin.
I felt all at once relieved AND stupid at the same time.
I gave myself an internal kick up the butt with the usual rant - "Oh my gosh - slow down Jen!" "Think about what you're doing" "Why do you have such a dory brain!!!!???" And then I gave my phone a little hug and started texting everyone in my family who were no doubt very concerned they couldn't reach me for all those hours, & replied to the three (did I say three!?) not even remotely critical texts that I had missed during the whole saga.....
It's cliche, but God knows where we are - always! Even if we're hiding from Him...
He knew us before anyone in the world did, and we will never, ever be cast aside or accidentally thrown out.
Psalm 139:16
"My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!"
Oh how much He loves us. So much - that His own precious Son Jesus was hidden from His sight for the sole purpose of saving humanity.
And as His lights to the world - we shine so bright we will always been seen.
And, on a side note, sometimes it's not a bad thing to have a break from everything wifi. Sometimes it's a good (great) thing to unplug and get reconnected to the true source of life. Spend time with God, talk face to face with the people you love, enjoy the sunrises and sunsets without having to post about them..... and be present in the moment.
Just put your phone in a safe place first :)
"You are the light of Christ to the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."
It happened in the space of about five minutes when I was dropping home to have a quick bite to eat, pick up my teenage son so he could do some job hunting, and then race back into town to continue working.
As soon as I realised it had gone missing, I calmly wandered from room to room, praying for Holy Spirit revelation to reveal its exact location! ....
Actually no, I did not do that at all.
I zigzagged like a crazy lady from room to outside to the car to another room - to rooms where I hadn't been ... totally gobsmacked that I could lose my phone in such a short space of time! I searched every nook and cranny of the kitchen, looked in the bin, in the pantry, in the fridge, in the sink, in every drawer, yelled at my son to look too, then ran to look under my bed.... I knew I had no reason to put my phone in the medicine cabinet while I had been eating lunch at the table - but it got a thorough check too.
I even looked in the bath!
As a last resort I spoke to the poor workman across the road asking if he had seen anyone suspicious wandering past my house in the last 10 minutes or so - who may have happened to venture into my house and steal my phone?
Yes I did that.
And so, after a futile & frustrating search, we drove to town - phoneless - and I spent the rest of the afternoon puzzled and wondering how my phone could vanish into thin air so quickly.
It's a weird feeling being stripped of your connection to the world. You almost feel instantly alone, unable to be contacted if someone suddenly needs you desperately - or in case there's a world crisis.
You are cut off. Almost hidden from society.
I have "Find my Friends" app on my phone - so it didn't take long to call (on my sons phone) my sisters and have my phone tracked. It was soon confirmed that my phone was in fact still alive and somewhere in my house (and not stolen by the workman or a random dog walker). So I could relax a little knowing with a more thorough search I would soon have my phone in my hand once again!
We finally got home (it seemed like more than just a few hours) and I searched again - to no avail.
Finally - after I had searched what seemed like every inch of the house - I decided to pray, desperate and remembering God knew where it was, and if I had slowed down at the beginning I may have been able to lean in and hear His gentle whisper & reminder.
I decided to retrace my steps to the car and sat in the drivers seat.
And then - I suddenly remembered a clue I had totally forgotten the whole afternoon. I'd decided when I arrived to clear out the old receipts from the car and took them with me to throw them away....
But I had checked the bin!
Surely not!?
So I took the whole bin out - and went to the big bin outside, and one by one started to remove every single content of the gross bins insides.... and there (right at the bottom) lay my phone. It had been hidden - covered in rice! (insert gross face emoji here)... When I threw my receipts in the bin I just let go of my phone - and it plummeted into the depths of the bin.
I felt all at once relieved AND stupid at the same time.
I gave myself an internal kick up the butt with the usual rant - "Oh my gosh - slow down Jen!" "Think about what you're doing" "Why do you have such a dory brain!!!!???" And then I gave my phone a little hug and started texting everyone in my family who were no doubt very concerned they couldn't reach me for all those hours, & replied to the three (did I say three!?) not even remotely critical texts that I had missed during the whole saga.....
It's cliche, but God knows where we are - always! Even if we're hiding from Him...
He knew us before anyone in the world did, and we will never, ever be cast aside or accidentally thrown out.
Psalm 139:16
"My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God, how vast is their sum!"
Oh how much He loves us. So much - that His own precious Son Jesus was hidden from His sight for the sole purpose of saving humanity.
And as His lights to the world - we shine so bright we will always been seen.
And, on a side note, sometimes it's not a bad thing to have a break from everything wifi. Sometimes it's a good (great) thing to unplug and get reconnected to the true source of life. Spend time with God, talk face to face with the people you love, enjoy the sunrises and sunsets without having to post about them..... and be present in the moment.
Just put your phone in a safe place first :)
"You are the light of Christ to the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden."
Love this. slowing down and listening first! So important. 😊 glad you found your phone 👏🏻👏🏻😘
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