Behind the Scenes

I enjoy good movies, especially chick flicks, haha. Who doesn’t right? OK – most men don’t care too much about chick flicks, rather, they enjoy movies where a lot of things blow up. I mean who doesn’t enjoy a good storyline, great acting, and special effects. I am not in the movie-making business, but I do know that there are so many things that happen behind the scenes that we don’t usually think about, but without them, a movie wouldn’t be that great. Even simple things like the angle of the camera, the lighting, the wind blowing at just the right time, or background noise like birds chirping, etc. make all the difference. And it doesn’t matter if the scene is a happy scene or a sad scene; there is still behind-the-scene work that makes those particular moments stand out or memorable. I think about life and how there are also things happening behind the scenes that a lot of times we don’t realize.

 

There was an ordinary event in my life which happened recently that, at the time, I thought was just another ordinary occurrence. However, something happened which I recognized afterward was behind-the-scenes stuff I was unaware of.

 

One weekend last month, my husband and I had planned a trip to a national park to hike. We saw great pictures online, read great reviews, and the clincher was that it was in an article on national parks to visit in the Costco Connection magazine. We were going to stop at a couple of unique places along the way for a little bit of sightseeing, also. A few days before the trip, I started not feeling well. It wasn’t major and I didn’t run a fever or anything, but just feeling lousy overall. So, I thought I would get over it quickly – no big deal. Well, the day before the trip, I still was feeling unwell. We decided to cancel hotel reservations and the trip. Little did I know there was behind-the-scenes stuff going on…

 

That Saturday which would have been the full day of hiking, I was on a special-interest online forum for people with a respiratory condition of which I was a member. I started out sharing a picture I took of a beautiful lake and just random things about the beautiful day. (People sometimes do that as a way to just talk about good things in life to take the focus off of talking about respiratory things.) But then, it was not my original intent and without realizing it, I found myself writing more and more encouraging people to keep up with exercising, to take their meds, and to do all these other things necessary to manage the respiratory condition. I also mentioned how the Lord God has held me through some very tough times with my condition, and I encouraged people to pray. I expressed an open invitation for people to PM (private message) me if they needed prayers.

 

I didn’t think anything of it and didn’t even review the post for autofill errors. Little did I know… My phone blew up with comments. Some people said they had lost all hope, wanted to give up (trying to take care of their condition), and thanked me for helping them to keep going again. Others appreciated the encouragement because they were discouraged. Some people asked for prayers.

 

The unwell feeling turned out to be nothing and cleared. It wasn’t until a few days later that it dawned on me the Lord was working behind the scenes. You see, if I had been on our trip, I would have been out hiking or sightseeing rather than posting in the forum. He saw the greater need for those people in the forum to be encouraged than for us to be hiking (which we had done plenty of by that time). It was He who used my little fingers to write more than just the words about the beautiful park.

 

If you’ve ever read about the success of certain movies with amazing special effects, you would recognize the name Steven Spielberg who is quite famous for behind the scenes work on special effects. Here, I want to highlight and give credit to my Lord, my God, my Savior Jesus who (looking back on my life) has been working behind the scenes in my life long before I came into a personal relationship with Him in my early 20’s.

 

My life is just as ordinary as yours. Or, perhaps you have a more exciting life than mine! 😉  Nevertheless, don’t underestimate what God could be doing in your life, even in times of struggle, but look for how He is working in and through your life for His praise and for the benefit of others. I know without a doubt, He was at work in my life that weekend in August when I felt unwell. If my life was a movie, in sad “scenes” or happy times of my life, I want to give credit to Him who is the Author and Perfector of my life and my faith. Would love to hear about His work in your life.