My phone rang during our prayer gathering.
I rush to turn it off, embarrassed that I hadn’t remembered to do it before.
It’s my youngest daughter calling from Missouri.
“At prayer. Are you okay?” I text.
When she sends a reply that all is well,
I notice that the time on my phone is wrong…
seven hours ahead of Pacific time.
I hear my husband begin to lead the gathering to pray for Ghana,
calling out specific needs, specific names, that we came into contact with on our recent trip there.
That’s when I realize my phone is showing me Ghana time.
I look at the settings, see if I’ve accidently changed something.
It’s still set to show me the time in the time zone I’m in,
Pacific time.
Until just a few moments ago it did.
It’s 7:45 pm, but it’s showing 2:45 am.
I join the group in prayer for Ghana, fervent, thinking God is trying to tell me something via Iphone, while at the same time realizing it sounds ridiculous.
I wonder if there’s something happening in Ghana in the middle of the night that we need to pray about.
My first thoughts, of course, are of my daughter, son-in-law, grandbabies.
Are they safe?
Periodically, I keep glancing at my phone.
The time still reads Ghana time.
Through the rest of our prayer time, and while chatting with people before heading home, it remains the same.
I have the most techy people in the group look at the phone,
they can’t figure out what the phone is doing when it’s set to tell the time of the the time zone I’m in.
I get in the car to leave, and a couple of blocks away from the church the phone returns to Pacific time.
In the morning my daughter calls from Ghana.
She can think of no special call for alarm during the night.
Me, I think that God knows.
I think He used my Iphone to remind me that in Him, in prayer, there’s no distance, no time zone difference.
He’s in Pacific time, and Ghana time, in the past, the present, the future, all at the same time.
Still following,
Elizabeth
Oh Amen sister!!!! Our God is AWESOME!!!
ReplyDeletesmiles...what a wonderful reminder you were given...just enough to get your attention...ha...how cool is that...smiles.
ReplyDeleteI love this...I have a love/hate relationship with technology...this helps the Love...just wonderful. blessings to you~
ReplyDeleteI don't have any idea of why your phone would do this. I love how you believe that it was a "God bump." I love that our God is the creator of time, therefore exists outside of time. :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful God moment indeed!
ReplyDeleteI love this, and as glad as I am that you linked w/ Em at IP--I'm even gladder (more glad?) that you linked with Jennifer, b/c I was definitely getting some God Bumps!
ReplyDeleteYou may never get to know the why of your phone time but I had an experience where I did get to know the why. One of my children was away from God and away from us for about a month. One Sunday morning out of the blue our child shows up and asks if they can go to church with us, asked me if I had been praying for them about 2 in the morning. I replied no I had been sleeping. They replied they had woken up and felt couldn't go back to sleep until agreed to go to church. When we got to church our child went ahead of us into church. My husband and I were getting out of the car when pastor drove up next to us. He said he sure was tired because the Lord had woke him up around 2 in the morning and told him to pray for our child. My husband and I had mouths hanging open. I looked at him and said you will never believe who is in church right now. He did not even act surprised because he said that he gotten peace and went back to sleep so figured God had answered his prayer.Now that is time specific.
ReplyDeleteGod is so good! He loves to give us reminders in unusal ways to sometimes let us know pray! Who knows His reasons but me thinks He was just reminding you of your friends in Ghana and how much they must need your prayer covering for something then or possibly going to happen!
ReplyDeletethat is so cool. we serve a big God. and you know, i think he's just so proud of you for seeing that and knowing it wasn't coincidence; it was Him. xo
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy cool, and all kinds of God-incidence-y! REALLY glad you linked this story. Your stories always, always bless me. Every time. God bless you, wherever and whenever you are. On Pacific time, On Ghana time ... and always on God's time. :)
ReplyDeleteReading that gave me chills. Sometimes we don't know why God puts something on our heart, sometimes we find out much later. Is your daughter a missionary in Ghana? My kids are beginning to study countries and cultures and pray for missionaries in different countries.
ReplyDeleteI got chills as I was reading this too. The Lord has a way of reminding us things that's for sure. He's always with us. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from The Rusted Chain