coinsidence or divine inspiration?

Being a parent has opened my eyes to the fact that you can see God's hand in your life every day, if you just open your eyes. It's easy for me to look at my life and see how God has blessed me in major ways, but I need to do a better job of looking for those subtle moments in every day life that are inspired moments . Having three boys has required a lot of hard work from the heavens - I believe their safety has depended on it. I think most parents, when they think about it, wonder how their kids make it through childhood without more serious injury, loss of eyes, or worse. Yes, bad things still happen, but I wonder how much is prevented by those heavenly 'whispers' every parent has experienced (recognized or not). How many of those "I'd better go see what my boys are up to" moments are inspired from a loving God. I can think of a couple of these moments off the top of my head, that I want to write down. It's sad that I can only come up with a couple, because I know it occurs much more frequently than that.

The first one happened last summer. Adam and I had just gone to bed (I think I was already asleep), when Adam had the impression that he needed to go and make sure that he had disconnected the power to the hydrolic lift on his big trailer. He realized that the boys liked to play on the trailer and that if one of the boys pushed the button, it could result in someone being crushed by the ramp. Although he really didn't want to get out of bed, he knew he needed to go right then, instead of putting it off. Sure enough, it was still connected. And, sure enough, the next morning the boys had decided to go play on the trailer. Now, obviously I don't know if something terrible would have happened that day, but I'm thankful that we didn't have to find out the hard way.

Another moment that recently happened, was at a family Christmas party. We were at an old church, and some of the kids were playing around some stairs in the building. My sister, Carrie was on her way to the bathroom, when she felt like she should go check on the kids. As she got to the stairs, she saw Asa at the top, squeezing through the railing (the building was definitely built before safety codes). I hate to think what could have happened if she had not been there. I'm very grateful that she didn't ignore that feeling.

I know that if I did a better job of keeping track of my boys and keeping them out of mischief, then their guardian angels wouldn't have to work so hard. I am very grateful for a merciful and loving God who helps us out more than we realize. I think for as many forces are out there working against us, we have as many (or more) stronger forces watching out for us. I'm making it a goal to do a much better job at recognizing God's hand in my life. Wait, didn't someone give a wonderful talk about this very thing? :).