When God Speaks Through a Cup of Coffee

Several months ago, as I was returning to work one afternoon, I noticed there were no cars at the drive-thru of a local coffee shop – where there is always a line. So I decided to swing by and take advantage of this rarity, plus I had a gift card, so even more reason to do so.  

It had already been a particularly difficult day, and I was emotionally depleted, so this unexpected treat was quite welcomed.  If there was anytime I could use a little pick-me-up, it was certainly now.

After receiving my steaming cup of frothy goodness, I placed it in my cup holder for safe keeping en route back to work, but not without first noticing the sticker placed on the cup lid’s opening.

The sticker said, “Walk softly, speak tenderly, pray fervently.”

There are many times in my life when those words would have brought a smile to my face as I acknowledged agreement, but not that day.  That day, in light of what of what I was facing, those words did no such thing.  Instead, the words mocked me.  Insulted me.  Offended me.

I shrugged it off and continued on my way, thinking not much else of it.  After arriving back at work, I sat the cup of afternoon delight on my desk, looking forward to indulging in the first sip.

As I went to remove the lid’s sticker, there were the words again speaking back to me, “Walk softly, speak tenderly, pray fervently.”

I didn’t shrug off the words completely this time, but rather hung on to the last line, “pray fervently.”

That part I could at least agree with.  I knew I needed to continue to battle in prayer, even if I didn’t feel like it in that particular moment.

So, instead of tossing the sticker in the waste basket, I decided to place it on a paperclip holder that was sitting on my desk in my line of sight.

As I took my first sip of coffee, the words caught my eye and called to me a third time, “Walk softly, speak tenderly, pray fervently.”

This time the full breadth of meaning did not escape me.  As the jolt of java awoke my senses, the jolt of the words awoke my mind, hitting me like a lightning bolt.  This was the answer to the very dilemma I was facing that day.

And as the warmth of the beverage spread through my body, the warmth of the words spread through my soul and pierced my heart.  It was as if God Himself had reached down from heaven and penned the words with His own hands.

I had so desperately needed God’s wisdom in that moment, and there it was spelled out in black and white (or blue and black if I’m being literal).

“Walk softly, speak tenderly, pray fervently.”

Though I didn’t know a solution to the situation I was facing, I knew now how to approach it.

So simple, yet so profound, and all from a cup of coffee.  

You can call it a coincidence if you like, but I call it providence.  If God can part the Red Sea, can He not make a coffee shop drive-thru line empty at just the right time to deliver just the right cup with just the right message to His daughter who so desperately needed to hear His voice in just that moment?

Sure, I’ve received other cups of coffee with other messages and it wasn’t God speaking to me.  And I don’t take just anything that crosses my path as a word from God.  Rather quite the opposite – I’m more skeptical, more questioning, more discerning. 

But I do listen for God’s voice, and I know that we must be attentive in order to hear Him.  He will speak to us if we’re attune and listening.  

Or in this case, “seeing”, even if it did take me reading it three times before the message got through.

God speaks to us in many ways both big and small.  But if we only look for the “big” ways that God speaks to us, we will miss all the “small” ways He does the same.  And the small ways sometimes have the biggest impact.

We just need to have ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to receive.

And there are many times when we’re listening for God’s voice that He calls us to wait.  I wrote the majority of this blog post at the time that it occurred, but I didn’t sense that it was the right time to post it and have been waiting for God to confirm when I should do so.  Usually that comes by a strong conviction in my spirit, but today, it came through a visual – through a cup of coffee no less.

The picture above … that occurred spontaneously this morning.  After making a cup of coffee and stirring in creamer that I had frothed, I carried the cup along with my Bible to another room for a moment of quiet time.  I sat the cup and my Bible down on a table, and as I went to remove the stirrer stick that was still in my cup, I noticed this heart shape had formed in my coffee.  And then the full picture came into view – this cup of coffee with the shape of a heart sitting right next to my Bible cover.  It was such a beautiful picture of God’s love, and I grabbed a quick photo with my phone.  After doing so, this blog post immediately came to mind, and I knew it was time, as I now had the picture to go with it.

And I couldn’t help but smile.  What started with God speaking through a cup of coffee was now affirmed with God speaking through a separate cup of coffee.

God is certainly not short on creativity.

Yes, God speaks to us in many ways and can do so through any means necessary.  Even through a cup of coffee.

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“For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it.”  Job 33:14 (NIV)