Remembering God’s Love: 5 Personal Stories of God’s Providence That Inspire Me Each Day

So it’s no secret that I’ve been in a slump lately.

I haven’t posted here in over two months, and that’s not like me.

What makes matters worse is that the whole world is recovering from its own slump in ways I haven’t proved capable. COVID’s being left in the past, restrictions worldwide are loosening, and life in general has become more normal.

People everywhere are getting back to how things were, yet we’re also getting the rare chance at a fresh start. That’s why we’re reconnecting with friends, refocusing on our goals, and recommitting to challenges that wearied us before.

Everyone’s re-doing something these days. But if you ask me what I’m doing now, I’ll tell you the most important thing I’ve had to do:

Remember.

I’ve had to remember who I am and what I’m capable of, but more importantly, I’ve had to remember who God is and how much He’s cared for me.

Now, I know people will read that and think I’m another religious type who chalks up everything he has as a “blessing”. But while I am grateful for the stuff I have and do attribute it to God, that’s not what I’m referring to here.

A Memorial to Remember

My act of remembrance hearkens back to the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.

In one particular story, Joshua and the Israelites passed through the Jordan River as God miraculously stopped the waters (Josh. 3:14-17)—just like He did with Moses at the Red Sea many years before (see Ex. 14:21, Josh. 4:23).

After the nation passed through the river, Joshua called twelve men from each tribe of ancient Israel. Then he gave the following orders as commanded by God:

“Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (Josh. 4:5-7 NIV)

After the stones were collected, Joshua set them later as a reminder to Israel and its future generations of what God did (Josh. 4:20-24). And we see symbols like this throughout the Bible that served a similar purpose:

• Passover commemorated God’s deliverance of Israel from Egyptian slavery (Ex. 12:26-27, Deut. 16:1-3).
• Customs in the Mosaic Law pointed Israelites to the Lawgiver’s salvation (Deut. 6:20-23).
• Communion even reminds us today of Jesus’ work on the cross (Luke 22:19-20, 1 Cor. 11:23-25 ESV).

God is well aware of our forgetful tendencies, and He knows one generation is all that stands between obedience and mass unbelief. That’s why these memorials are so important.

They aren’t old traditions followed for their own sake. They’re reminders of God’s active love in the past.

A Reminder of His Love

Just like Joshua made a memorial in the story, I’ve decided to make my own here.

No, I’m not gonna build a sculpture or celebrate a new holiday. I’m simply going to do what I always do: write.

I think I and many others will benefit from remembering God’s love. And the best way I know to do that is to share some experiences that showed His care for me.

I avoided writing about this stuff before because frankly, it’s weird. There are enough lunatics claiming the faith these days; I’d rather not be seen as one of them.

That being said, it is important to share the unmistakable work of a living God—especially when that testimony confirms the truth proclaimed in Scripture. So that’s what I’ll do now.

I’ve had some…interesting experiences in my time with this site. And I feel like now is the right time to share them.

Please note that I’m not writing this to prove how special I am or that I’m superior though. Most of this will show how much greater God is compared to me anyway.

All the stuff I’ll describe here was spontaneous too. I wasn’t looking for signs, miracles, or things like that.

All of this just happened. And I promise, it is all true.

A Forgotten Memory

This one is where I’ll start. But before I explain what happened, I need to go back about 20 years.

I was a young kid at the time—about 7, 8, or 9. My parents were both Christians and I became one too a couple years earlier.

I grew up in church, went to Christian schools, and had good knowledge of the Bible for someone my age. But anyway, there was one memorable day at church then that stood out to me.

The sermon that day had just finished and we were about to be dismissed, but all of a sudden, the pastor called for all the kids in the audience—which included me—to come up front. It was strange at the time and it’s still odd considering nothing like that was done before or after that day. I still walked to the front though to see what was happening.

Once I arrived, I heard the pastor speaking to each of the younger Christians about how God would work in their life. Now, I know that sounds super spiritual and some people might equate it to fortune telling, but that’s not what it was. It was more about the spiritual gifts we’d develop (see Rom. 12:6-8, 1 Cor. 12:4-11) and how we would use them to fulfill roles in the Church. (Not that specific building mind you, but the body of believers overall.)

After a bit of a wait, the pastor eventually made it to me. And here’s what I was told:

“A teacher”.

I was told that I would fill the role of teacher within the Church, but being as young as I was then, I didn’t understand. I wasn’t thinking about the biblical role. I was thinking along the lines of schoolteacher, and I thought it was pretty lame.

Once that was over though, we dismissed and went home like usual. I kept the memory of that day in the back of my mind a few months, but after the years passed by, I honestly forgot…

…until about 15 years later.

I was in my old apartment then during my HFE prep year. By “prep year”, I’m referring to the year before I actually launched this site.

I got the idea to start a blog around the beginning of 2016, but I knew I wasn’t ready to launch then. I wasn’t smart enough, I couldn’t write well enough, and all the technical details were scary. I also had a lot on my plate at the time and couldn’t focus on writing, so I decided to prep for HFE’s launch by making a bank of articles to publish later.

Well, I was writing at my desk one night when something strange happened. I can’t believe I’m actually typing this, but as I was writing, I heard a clear voice say the following words in my right ear:

“A teacher.”

I then jumped out of my chair and ran to the door.

“Nah. Nope. No way. I’m outta here.”

That’s what I thought initially. But once I calmed down, I noticed that the voice I heard was my pastor’s from 15 years ago. And then it hit me:

“Wait…this is what that was about?!”

I realized HFE would be the medium by which I could teach. And the funny thing is, I stumbled upon it.

I wasn’t thinking about my pastor’s words when I started this site. That day in the past was a distant memory. I was just a self-improvement junkie who had recently committed back to the faith.

Normal life bored me too and I wanted to be a content creator again. But to think my idea was connected to that? It blew me away.

A Sign of Approval

A few months later, I moved back to my parents’ place for a summer job before finishing college. (Yes, if you’ve kept track of time, you have a good idea of how old I am.)

That job was an internship with a popular company in the area. I was actually looking forward to it and was really excited to start, but after a few weeks, I was bored out of my mind.

One thing I enjoy about my current job is that I mix desk work and hands on stuff, but that internship was pretty much all desk job, and I couldn’t stand it. There was also an oversight on my biggest project that led to me having less work than expected, so I had plenty of free time.

Because of those circumstances, my blog prep felt more like a job than my real one. I was even able to read the Bible from start to finish that summer because I had so much time.

But getting back on track here, I read and did the little work I had during the day, then I focused on blog prep when I got home. I also finished some administrative tasks for the site then too instead of just writing. I beefed up the security, dabbled in Photoshop, and learned how to handle the crashes I caused by messing with code. But even after all that, the private site was still missing an important piece: a theme.

The site was just a default layout with no personality then, but one night, I decided to fix that. I bought a new template that evening, mocked up some early posts, and used my mediocre Photoshop skills to create the look this site has today.

I remember being so happy when I first saw the preview that evening. Not only did I have my own blog then, but it actually looked good, and I was excited to launch a few months later.

I went to bed after that and headed to work the next day like normal. Yet the scene when I returned home was anything but.

I was driving down the street about to turn into my driveway when I noticed a bunch of birds flying around the house.

Now, it wasn’t uncommon to see robins chillin’ on the roof during summer, but this was different. This was a flock of at least 30 birds flying in a circle above my parents’ house.

I remember looking around to see if something similar was happening in the neighborhood, but no, it was just my place. One house on a street of about twenty had birds flying in a halo above it, and it left me speechless.

I didn’t even think to snap a pic or record a video. I just stared at the sky confused.

I finally wandered into the house a few minutes later, but I was still shocked. I had never seen anything like that in my life.

Once I had time to think it all over though, I couldn’t help but see this as a sign of…approval.

The Truth Confirmed

During that same summer, I kept writing to build a bank of articles like I planned. My goal was to write 30 articles that year, and I actually did it.

I haven’t posted all 30 because some of them were trash to be honest, but the bulk of those drafts became early posts here at HFE.

One of the better articles of that bunch was “What’s Wrong with the World (Explaining the Christian Worldview)”. That summer of 2016 was full of tumultuous events, and I wanted to cover the Bible’s message about why stuff like that happened.

Most Christian teaching I heard then never went beyond the “love your neighbor” message that’s repeated ad nauseam. So I wanted to challenge myself to go deeper and explain the Bible’s larger worldview.

That post is a great introduction to the faith and it’s well written too—which is surprising considering I wrote it so long ago. The article itself, however, isn’t my focus here. The story behind it is what I’ll tell.

I remember working on that post throughout the week and I finished the draft on a Saturday afternoon.

How do I remember that it was Saturday afternoon? Because I’ll never forget what happened when I finished the draft.

As soon as I signed off and stopped typing, I felt a cool sensation in my lower chest.

Now again, I’m being completely honest here, and I didn’t drink a milkshake or anything like that. I clearly remember a cool and pleasant feeling in my lower chest when I stopped writing.

I’m not sure how else to describe it. It just made me feel cool, calm, and joyful on the inside.

What’s even weirder is that this feeling didn’t come and go either. That distinct coolness was there when I went to sleep that night. And it was still there Sunday morning.

I went to church that Sunday with my family, but of course, I didn’t tell them. I could barely believe I was feeling that myself.

Anyway, after the service was over, my old friend came to talk to me. (I say “old friend” not because I’ve known him for long but because he really is an older dude.)

I’ve mentioned him a few times on this site, but to make a long story short, God has used him to guide me through things he should have never known about. He’s even talked to me about stuff I’ve written before I even published it.

I’ve never mentioned the blog to him either. So even if I did publish it, there’s no way he should have known. But he did, and this time was no different.

I remember him being so happy and telling me, “God loves you so much! Do you know that?! I don’t think you know how much God loves you!”.

All I could say was, “Yeah…I guess.”

I couldn’t think straight. I was too overwhelmed.

There I was feeling like I just swallowed some IcyHot, and then I had this guy responding to a draft he shouldn’t have known about.

It was all so crazy.

The cool feeling I had eventually faded that afternoon, but the experience has stuck with me since. It gave me confidence that the message I presented was true. And I actually got confirmation that proved it.

The Gift from a Father

Now for a more recent event.

This and the following one aren’t as sensational as the other three, but they do show examples of God’s loving providence—something I desperately needed to see in 2020.

This one happened in June of that year. COVID was in full swing then, America’s racial division was the hot topic, and politics were more polarizing than ever.

So how did yours truly deal with all of this drama?

Well…I bought a car.

My finances were one area 2020 thankfully didn’t hurt. Plus I was still driving my 2000 Honda Accord from college and knew I’d need an upgrade soon. So I decided to take the plunge and buy a new model.

After a few hours at the dealership, I committed to a purchase and sold them my old car—they apparently thought higher of it than I did and they even took it off my hands for more than I got it for.

With that done, it was almost time to leave. I just had to wait a bit to finish paperwork and finalize both sales. What’s interesting though is that the saleswoman told me about 15 minutes later that a man was already calling about my old car. (I guess she took some quick pictures and listed it online as soon as I agreed to sell.)

After talking on the line a little more, she covered the phone with her hand and told me that he wanted to buy my old Accord as a gift for his 16-year-old son.

Now when I heard that, I didn’t think too much of it. Sure, it was weird for someone to call about the car that fast, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I kept thinking it sounded familiar though and I couldn’t understand why.

Even after I finished the purchase and drove off the lot, I still thought about what she said. And that’s when I remembered.

I went to the dealership in early June of 2020, and I posted a faith-based article about a week before. That post was “Explaining God’s Sovereignty in Salvation (Why Spreading the Gospel is Always 100% Effective)”. It was a massive post about election and predestination that I wrote during time off from work.

In that article—which again, was published about a week earlier—I wrote the following line:

Or better yet, think of it this way. If a father gave his son a Honda Accord for his 16th birthday, but the son refused because he wanted a Ferrari, does that mean the father isn’t loving?

Now yeah, that could have just been a coincidence, but it didn’t feel like one. It was way too similar, and a little uncanny—almost like…I was being watched.

Encouraged by “Chance”

This is the last event I’ll cover. It’s the most recent one here and somewhat verifiable too.

This happened towards the end of 2020—during the week after Thanksgiving actually. I remember that because I published an article on Thanksgiving day. That article was “Seeds Before Fruit: Explaining the Necessity of Regeneration and the Priority of the Gospel”.

The title pretty much tells you what that one was about. It’s one of the better articles on this site and I’m glad I finished it, but man, writing it was a struggle.

I think a lot of the COVID restrictions and routine changes got to me during that time. An article like that should have only taken 2 weeks to write, but I slogged through it for a month.

It’s crazy because I was really passionate about the topic too; my mind just couldn’t keep up. To be honest, I was also a little discouraged with the site and some other personal stuff then too. That’s why what happened next was so helpful.

Before I get to that though, I need to mention a line from the post.

Part of that article explained why a secular society would never reach the moral goals it aimed for, and that led to the following line:

John Lennon wanted us to think of what the world would be like without “religion”. Well guess what? Now you don’t have to imagine.

It was an obvious reference to one of Lennon’s songs. And many Christians like me have highlighted the fault in its humanistic ideal.

That song isn’t my focus here though. This occurrence had more to do with the man himself.

I remember being at work the Monday after I published the article, and that’s where this occurred. That morning, I just happened to walk into a break room where the TV just happened to be on ESPN during a segment that just happened to cover the 40^th anniversary of Lennon’s death being announced on Monday Night Football.

Now look, I am not a Beatles fan. I don’t know too much about Lennon or the group as a whole. I had no idea that he died around that time, and I definitely didn’t know the 40^th anniversary was coming up.

I’m not sure why the TV was on ESPN either—we usually have it on NBC in the mornings. And I don’t know how I managed to walk in right when the segment started. But seeing all those events come together—no pun intended—was a little odd.

Again, you can chalk all that up to coincidence. It’s not like something miraculous happened. But the way I see it, that moment was a small reminder that the work I did wasn’t going unseen.

Inspired by His Love

We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty wonders. (Psalm 78:4 NLT)

So why have I come clean all of a sudden? Why didn’t I keep this stuff to myself like I have over the years?

Well, it’s like I said: I needed to remember.

Sometimes a thought in your head isn’t enough. You gotta put it out in front of your eyes.

I shared those experiences because I needed to remember, but like Joshua’s memorial stones, my memories aren’t just for me:

• They’re for the seekers intrigued by the faith but who aren’t certain of its truth.
• They’re for skeptics who say I’m a bigot, or a contrarian, or some relic of the past.
• They’re for every Christian, like me, who just needs to know that God cares.

I’m willing to share all this for those people because God’s love inspires me. I’ve seen how real the God of the Bible is, and I want future generations to know Him too.

I’m not interested in tradition for tradition’s sake. I don’t teach this stuff because I grew up in it and want a bunch of copies of myself.

No, I teach it because it’s true.

If I wasn’t convinced that this stuff was true I’d never step foot in a church again. But I know it’s true, and there’s no way anyone could see the world through my eyes and not come to that same conclusion.

So much of my life was spent fighting circumstances that told me I was nothing, that I didn’t matter. But I always had the assurance that there was Someone who thought otherwise. He was always watching, always caring, and always inspiring me to give back to Him.

That’s why I wrote this memorial.

Yeah, it does sound weird. And maybe you think I’m losing it now. Perhaps I looked too deeply into things that happened by chance.

You have a right to think that way, so I won’t try to change your mind.

All I ask, after all this, is that you do one thing:

Please, don’t ever forget.

-Drew

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Photo Credits (by order of appearance):

• Benjamin Davies
• Jeremy Thomas
• Jack Sharp
• Shreyas Kakad
• Franck
• Aziz Acharki
• Magnet.me
• Edge2Edge Media

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