Show off!

taken in the wilderness in Israel, March 2016

"God, would you just show off?" 

This has been one of my recent repeated prayers. It usually follows a request for him to show up. 

Now, I know God is omnipresent and is with me wherever I go - in fact, the Holy Spirit lives in me! It is such a crazy, beautiful truth. But I still find myself asking him to show up, and maybe that says more about my eyes not always seeing him, or taking the time to look where he is moving. 

So I ask God to show up when I go to youth group - that he'll help me understand the Czech, and guide me in building and deepening relationships. And I ask him to show up when I go to my gym or chat with my neighbours, that I'll have the opportunity to be a light for him. And it's beautiful to see the ways he answers those prayers - and the asking makes me a whole lot easier to see the answers.

And, recently, I've been asking him to show off. To answer prayers and resolve situations in a way that only he can - because there are some situations that only he can resolve. So I'm asking him to come in a mighty way, and show off, and do things only he can do - and in a way that means he gets all the glory. 

I love the verse in Isaiah 42 that says:

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

It's incredible to see God doing what only he can do - turning darkness into light, making rough places level. He's a good, good father, who gives good gifts. And I know that sometimes those gifts are resolution, or him redeeming things I thought were irredeemable. And sometimes those gifts are hope and peace in him and him alone. 

So, I'm asking God to show up and show off this week. And I'm excited to see what he's going to do!