Favored, 2 Peter

2 Peter 1:2 “May God bless you with his special favor and wonderful peace as you come to know Jesus, our God and Lord, better and better.”

This verse reminds me of my days as a young mother. It seems God gave lots of spiritual “treats” back then when my faith was so new, formative, and I genuinely wanted to know him better. I’m so thankful for these memories – they were signs to me of God’s greatness and his “personal God” characteristics. Through those little treats He taught me that He cares for me personally.

I have a little game I play with the girls. When one of them does something that blesses me, I sometimes respond with a smile and a “you’re my favorite, you know.” Each child knows the game and knows she’s not really my favorite but they also know that whatever they just did pleased me. It’s a bit silly, but I play it often, nearly daily.

Back in my early days of following God, it seemed God played this game with me. It wasn’t that I had to do something special to feel favored; it’s that He did something and from that I felt like I was a favorite. Those times when I was so keenly aware of his presence set the foundation of a trusting relationship that still endures and is still growing.

This morning I read 2 Peter 1:16, “We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes,” and was reminded of one of those first experiences of my experiencing his “majestic splendor.” Stephanie was 2 or 3 years old. All the children I knew her age were no longer wetting the bed. Because I had wet the bed long past it being acceptable, I knew the shame and humiliation. I was terribly burdened for her. I didn’t want her to go through my experience. (Now I know wetting the bed at 2 or 3 isn’t terribly odd, but then I did not). I did everything I knew to help her, but she still wet the bed.

The time came when I started begging God for help. “Please, please, please help Steph not to wet the bed,” became my nightly prayer. Very soon after my whining and pleading started, I awoke one morning with a start. It was 2am and the alarm clock in the kitchen was going off. I stumbled groggily down the hall toward the annoying beep beep beep that was slicing through the night. In the kitchen I headed to the clock and in that second I realized for the first time since the beeping started that there was no alarm clock in the kitchen. At the exact moment I had that realization, the beeping stopped.

I stood there confused. Just as quickly as the “alarm” had started beeping I “heard” a passing thought. You asked me to help Stephanie not wet the bed. Here’s your help.
Pleased, so very very pleased, I went and woke little Stephanie and took her to the toilet where she peed her little heart out. I couldn’t stop smiling. God was right in the middle of the details of my life.

I tucked my sweet Stephanie back into bed and, hardly able to contain my excitement, went back to bed. I shook Kent a little to tell him that God had just woke me up to take Steph to the bathroom. He mumbled something like that’s nice and went back to his throaty breathing. At 2am I couldn’t think of anyone to share my story with. I rolled over and pulled the covers high. Unable to stop smiling, I just laid there thinking, “I’m His favorite.”