Coffee with God

BY RHONA  ALFORTE

I had the chance to sit at the park by the lake with my cup of coffee after my Friday morning routine of getting my son ready for school and dropping him off. I had so many things to do in my mind for the day – a lot of work to finish off before the holiday break, a lot of Christmas shopping to do but with limited funds, a lot of emotional stuff going on after a fruitful Mediation session yesterday with my ex husband. Despite all these happenings in my life, it was as if God whispered to me this morning and invited me to have coffee with Him! I hesitated at first because of the amount of tasks I knew that I had to do and get through by the end of the day.. but I decided to be obedient and take up His invitation.

So I pulled over my car at the park and bought a cup of coffee then walked with Him… and as I walked, a young family was having a family photo shoot being taken at the usual spot where I sat and had my Friday morning time with God.

I guess God didn’t want me to sit there today as he brought me towards the other end of the park, an area that wasn’t as well maintained.

The man-made lake had plants dying and a lot of rubbish were stuck at the plants on the side of the lake. God made me see what Man had done to His creation. How we have damaged the wonderful creation He has made. It was like what I had done to myself in the past; each time I gave in to temptation and fell into sin.

As I reflected on this, God then drew my eyes towards the side of the lake where there were a group of ducks who had just left the lake, they headed onto the footpath and stopped there to dry themselves off.

As I watched the group of ducks and what they were doing, I noticed each duck was actually shaking off their wings, using their beaks to clean off themselves and once they had done this a few times they just sat there as if basking in God’s light from the sun to dry off. This reminded me of the need to clean ourselves and it is only us who can do this, for we are responsible for our own actions, our own choices in life, and that there is a time in our life where we, like the ducks, need to get out of the water or situation where we have been and just shake off everything that we do not need to carry in our journey. And once we’ve sorted ourselves and have risen over a situation, there is nothing left to do but just to sit there, like the ducks, and bask in God’s love and walk in His light.

After this, God then drew my attention to the clouds.

He made me look up and He answered my question right there and then; a few weeks now every Friday, I have seen in the skies a beautiful sight of clouds that were scattered and looked like puzzles.. And I remembered saying to God, it is so beautiful.. but what do you want me to learn from these clouds? He kept showing it to me for about 3 consecutive Fridays and then it stopped. But earlier this week, He showed it to me again and I asked Him what is it Lord? What do you want me to know or learn from these clouds? What does it mean?

This morning, I got my answer! After looking at the ducks, my eyes looked up and saw the clouds with the same pattern like puzzles but this time, they were a lot closer together now and no longer apart from each other.. It was then that I realized that it was a symbol of my life journey so far… That I was broken into pieces after going through separation & dealing with the emotional side of things now that I have a new status in life.. And the clouds coming together symbolizes the state where I am in my journey today.. that through God’s providence, guidance & grace, I am able to stand victorious over my heartaches, pain & suffering.. all because I have chosen to surrender everything to Him and acknowledge His presence within me..

What a wonderful moment it was that God had spoken to me throughout this morning.. and even as I do my tasks for the day, He is still here, letting me know that everything will be okay because the music that came on whilst I was working is the song ‘From this moment on’ by Shania Twain then followed by ‘I will be here’ by Steven Curtis Chapman..

God is saying to me: “From this moment, your new life has begun, right beside you is where I belong, I will love you I promise you this, there is nothing I wouldn’t give, from this moment on… And I will be here, when you feel like being quiet, when you need to speak your mind, I will listen,I will be here when the laughter turns to crying, through the winning, losing and trying, we’ll be together, ‘cause I will be here”

I thank and praise Him for making me feel His loving presence today.. if this is what its like to have coffee with God, then surely I can get used to this!