“Hey girl, you okay in there?” I asked as I knocked on my ten-year-old daughter’s bedroom door. I turned the doorknob and found her with tears streaming down her face, wrapped in her Grammie’s floor-length fur coat that she would put on just about every time she went to her house.
She looked up at me through tears, and with a sweet hint of a smile, she said, “I was listening to a playlist of my favorite worship songs, and I don’t know why, but I just felt like God was really close.”
It had only been a few days since my mother-in-law passed from this life and into the arms of her Savior after an unexpectedly short battle with pancreatic cancer, and I was struck with an overwhelming sense of awe and wonder. In the midst of the hardest few months we had ever walked through as a family, the heaviness lifted for a moment as I witnessed a holy encounter between God and my hurting daughter. He was present, He was near, and He was making Himself known—not through a grand gesture or miracle, but through an intimate moment while listening to a song. I could see the same sense of wonder shining through my daughter’s tear-filled eyes.
In a walk of faith, wonder isn’t always something that comes naturally. It definitely wasn’t for me in that hard season, and maybe it’s something you struggle with sometimes, too. But the good news is that it is something we can learn to cultivate. Wonder is a posture of the heart that comes as we stand in awe of who God is and what He has done. It’s the joy and reverence we experience as we glimpse something bigger than ourselves in creation, in scripture, or simply in His very nature.
Wonder in the Ordinary
Have you ever had a moment of wonder while taking part in the most mundane of things? I will never forget one moment, many years ago. I was sitting on a bench alone on a chilly October day when an ant caught my eye. I watched as it seemed to intentionally assess the sidewalk, and before I knew it, there were others that knew exactly what to do, working in sync to achieve an unspoken common goal. Those tiny creatures drew me into a sense of wonder, marveling at the God of the universe who created everything in it and holds it all together.
In the Bible, we see God revealing His majesty through miraculous wonders like the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) or the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14), but we can also see Him inviting us to experience His nature in the ordinary. In Matthew 6:26, Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Then again in verse 28, He says, “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.” Jesus points us to the seemingly unimportant to grasp the wonder of His provision for His children. Cultivating wonder helps us slow down and see God’s fingerprints in every bit of the mundane.
Wonder in the Unknown
In seasons riddled with uncertainty, my heart can so easily turn inward and grow anxious. Yet the unknown is the very place where God often invites us into wonder. In this broken and sometimes frightening world, cultivating wonder can help us become resistant to cynicism and numbness and instead keep our hearts tender and hopeful.
Cultivating wonder in the unknown doesn’t mean we deny our fears; it means we can hold them alongside the assurance that God is in control. It means we can see uncertainty as an opportunity to trust in the One who is the author of our stories. Even when we can’t see what’s up ahead, we can marvel at God’s steady and unwavering hand in our lives. Our focus can become less about what we don’t know and more about Who we do know.
The next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by an uncertain path ahead, try meditating on one of these verses:
“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars . . . what is mankind that you are mindful of them?” (Psalm 8:3–4)
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).
Wonder as a Form of Worship
When I think of worship, my mind usually goes straight to singing in church or raising my hands in praise. However, true worship begins long before the music starts. Worship is what happens in our hearts when we recognize the majesty of God, and one of the purest ways that happens is through wonder.
Cultivating wonder in our lives naturally draws us into a posture of worship. When we allow ourselves to pause and marvel at the world around us, we’re worshiping. When we see a stunning sunset, hear the giggles of children, or feel the warmth of community around a dinner table, it turns our focus off of ourselves and onto the greatness of God. The more we recognize it, the more our hearts can’t help but worship Him! It’s important to know that this kind of wonder isn’t just an emotional response; it’s a posture that can actually help us worship God more fully as it leads us towards gratitude, humility, and joy.
Take David, for example. His worship recorded throughout the Psalms sing of the wonder he experienced: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them?” (Psalm 8:3–4). David wasn’t chasing some big, flashy experience from God. He simply recognized the beauty of who God was right there in that moment.
Wonder doesn’t have to be complicated. It can show up in tears while listening to music, in ants on a sidewalk, and in the small graces we often overlook. My prayer for us is that we would keep our eyes open to those glimpses of His presence—because wonder is not just something to feel; it’s something to cultivate.
—Written by Stephanie Teague. Used by permission from the author.
One Response
This is so good and so true, Steph. Thanks for the reminder!