There are many ways God can use our surroundings to send us a message. We just have to stop and listen in order to properly receive what God wants to tell us. We can allow distractions to separate us from God. I am guilty of this myself. I became so consumed with other things that I was unknowingly disconnecting myself from God.
I must admit: I am a huge anime fan. It all started when I was younger and I laid my eyes upon the show "Inuyasha." Afterwards, I was hooked and began to explore other anime. Recently, I began to watch the series "Fairy Tail." I saw many excellent reviews on it and decided to give it a chance. It begins with a young celestial wizard, Lucy Heartfilia, who is in search of the infamous wizarding guild, Fairy Tail. By chance, she encounters a wizard Natsu Dragneel, who is from the guild. Natsu uses a rare and powerful type of magic: dragon slayer magic. She joins the guild and they continue to have many adventures together. The series lives up to the rave reviews.
The series became so addicting that I began binge-watching and working the show into my daily routine. In one particular episode, things were getting intense. The wizards were going through a trial to increase their ranking. Natsu had to battle against another member of the guild, Gildarts. Gildarts is the most powerful wizard in the guild and, arguably, one of the most powerful wizards in the land. After entertaining Natsu for a while, Gildarts showed him his full power. The extent of his power was so great that Natsu could not even approach Gildarts. All he could do was bow down and surrender.
At that moment, I stopped the episode because God had my attention. Romans 14:11 came into mind. For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Here I was, obsessed with this show, admiring the characters' fictional power when there was one who can do all things exceedingly and abundantly (Ephesians 3:20) that I was not properly devoting myself to. I was limiting my time with God for reasons I can not explain. I paused the episode and began reading my scriptures and giving God the time he deserved. All God wanted me to know was he was there and that I should not forget about him. Like Natsu, I had to humble myself before a greater power.
