Ever since we lost power for a few days a few years ago, I have had a new appreciation for a hot shower. Often I will sincerely offer prayers of appreciation and gratitude for the simple, often overlooked, grace of living in a place and at a time where this kind of convenience is literally available whenever I so desire.

I was praying one of these prayers one Sunday morning a few weeks back. The warm steam rising, the soft spray just staring to rinse the shampoo suds from my hair as the water pressure slowly lessened and then cut off altogether. My prayer interrupted as quickly as my shower, I turned, staring at the showerhead and jiggling the nozzle. No good. No go. No H2O.

My thanksgiving praises turned to desperate pleas. How was I to get the soap out of my hair? How was I going to get ready to go to church? What was I to do? Why now? Why me? My mind flooded with questions I could not answer, problems I could not solve. What choice did I have? When I cannot, I know Who can. God, please…

I slowly turned the nozzle back to on and the water slowly, but surely sputtered and started, soon streaming and steaming again. I resumed rinsing and hustled through the rest of my routine, just in case I lost the ability to do all things I was dependent on the water to allow me to do. As I dried off, I continued to pray and to process what had just happened. I realized this was such a First World problem, but it was a real problem nonetheless.

My family is in a time a transition. I had been praying that God would confirm that we were hearing Him correctly. Personally, I’d been doing all things I as “supposed” to do. I’d been reading my Bible. I’d been praying. But God. He knew that I was asking for something special. Some thing just for me, to show me His nearness, to confirm His direction, to reveal more of Himself to me.

As I proceeded to towel and then blow dry my hair, I was humbled. This unusual occurrence, wasn’t accidental or coincidental. It may have been some routine maintenance for Clarksville Gas and Water, but I believe that it was so much more. God was answering my prayers for something more, something just for me, that I could look back and mark when God spoke just to me.

There was no voice in my bathroom. No burning bush. No angelic messenger – but an overwhelming sense that God wanted me to take notice.

I didn’t want to over-spiritualize anything. I didn’t want to read into the situation something it wasn’t. However, in Sunday School that morning, my class “just happened” to discuss how we know God’s voice when we hear it. No one said anything that I hadn’t heard before so I could easily recognize the truth that was being shared. God will never contradict Himself. He cannot lie. He can only be who He is.

So what was I believing He has said to me that morning in the shower? He didn’t tell me what my family’s next steps are. He didn’t tell me to do anything – except, to be still and to know He is God and to reflect on the God He is.

Just as He has always provided just what I needed when I needed it, He always will. I had to confess how much I take Him for granted, failing to thank Him for His daily provision and for, all too often, taking credit for doing things that truly, honestly He did. Who am I that He would even talk to me through my shower? I sure don’t deserve this kind of personal connection –

Yet THIS is the kind of God He is. THIS is the personal relationship He has pursued to have with me. THIS is His character and His character is worthy of praise.

I don’t have all the answers I want Him to answer. My family is still in a season of transition. I am watching our country try to recover from two catastrophic natural disasters. The world seems to be at war on every continent. I am saddened by the political process. I have SO many questions.

Still, in the shower that morning, God said, “Look at Me.” He asked, “What do you know about Me?” Just as He gave me the hot water that morning, took it away and then gave it back to me again – I know that He is in control. He works all things for my good and His glory. He is all-powerful. He is sufficient. He sees me. He knows me. He loves me.

As I wait on Him and as He shows me what He is doing:

• I will not fear or fret . . . . . . Okay, I will try not to fear or fret, but I know that when I do, I can cry out to Him and He will answer me. He continues to show me that He is Who He has always been. He will take care of all the things.
• I will focus on Who I know Him to be . . . . . . Instead of worrying, I will turn up my worship. I will press into what I know about Him to be true. I will sing. I will pray. I will be in the Word.

God may not communicate with me on the daily through supernatural means, or shower showdowns, but He is daily still faithful to allow me to find Him as I seek Him. The questions for me is – Am I seeking the Great I Am? Am I limiting Him or am I allowing Him to show me who He is? Am I allowing myself to be distracted by lesser things?

God may have me, have us, have my family, in this space to teach us, to teach me, to seek Him in new ways, and to learn more about who He is. What is happening in our lives right now is not about us, just as the shower that morning was never about me. What is happening in “our” nation and “our” world isn’t about us either.

It is all about Who He is. This is how I know it was God who spoke to me in the shower.