9 Church Signs in Troa, CA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve never been a huge fan of the signs with clever sayings that some churches display outside of their buildings (no offense if your favorite church uses those signs). It’s not that I think it’s a bad idea to broadcast a wise saying it’s just that very few of the sayings come off well—to me, they usually sound religious, cheesy, or trite.

In one of my former home towns there was one church in particular that always posted an embarrassing quote that, in my opinion, made Christianity sound silly and out of touch with reality. One night, though, I had hit a very low spot and I was depressed. I was driving through town on the verge of tears, and I was begging the Lord to speak to me. I remember praying, “Lord, you need to come through for me because I’m at the end of my rope.” After a little while of aimless driving I passed the church with the cheesy billboard, and I remember chuckling despite my discouragement and thinking, “I wonder what lame quote they’re posting now.”

As I slowed down to read the sign, however, all of my criticism went out the window. The sign read: “When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll find that God lives there.”

I pulled in to the church’s parking lot, brushed away a few tears of gratitude, and snapped a photo of the quote. On the rest of the way home I repented of my criticism, and thanked the Lord for using that silly, little sign to speak to me when I needed it the most.

I’m still not a fan of most inspirational reader boards, but for some reason that incident has been on my mind a lot this week. Perhaps the Lord wanted me to pass it along to you.