Once again, I've been bombarded with God's love and answers. It's funny how one thing can lead to another sometimes.
During Praise on Wednesday, one of the speakers, Hannah, said something that really hit me. The way she mentioned that we should "jealously guard our hearts" and also our time with God. I had never thought of it this way.. to jealously guard that time, or anything for that matter. It made a lot of sense because I see myself doing that with so many other things; "No, I think I'll pass, I'm spending one-on-one time with Jonathan today." or "I actually have a lot of homework to do, could you go somewhere else if you're going to be loud?" It's so simple to guard the time that I feel that I need, yet neglect the time with God which is vital to my faith. This is only the first part of my story. Remember how I said its funny how one thing can lead to another?
After Praise (Wednesday night) and throughout the rest of the day today, I had the idea in my mind that I really do need to guard my time with God. I had time after class and decided it was a perfect time to do a devotion. Of course, other things came up and it was 'postponed' (which was okay with me because I knew I had all night). After dinner, I decided it was a good time to do a devotion and Jonathan willingly joined me. :) The devo. was simply called: Deciphering God's Voice. I audibly said something along the lines of, "Are you serious? This is perfect..."
Background fact: I've been thinking and praying about something specific since Monday. This decision requires time, effort, and an honest heart if I say yes to it. My initial answer was YES! but then at times other thoughts would creep in like, "You don't have time for that" or "You're not that good at what they're asking you to do." I was about to bring it up to a friend in order to talk it through, but before that even happened I found this devo. or, maybe it found me. It helped me realize what the answer was to my question, but it also showed me something amazing.
I couldn't believe that the devotional had shown me exactly what I was needing to hear (I mean seriously, it was called 'Deciphering God's Voice')! But what really got me was the fact that the only reason I was led to my answer, was by the previous feelings of needing to "jealously guard my heart" from the night before. God was leading me to the answer I was seeking from the beginning, even though I had no idea where I was going. It amazes me to have this happen and it's a glorious thing.
Let God work in your life. Listen to the feelings on your heart. They might be leading you somewhere specific down the road!
I've really learned that God uses what (or who) He needs to in order to get His message across loud and clear! This reminds me of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 - Elijah expects God to come in the wind and the earthquake and the fire, but instead God speaks in a gentle whisper. Sometimes we try so hard to look for God speaking to us in these miraculous works and ways, but in reality we can always hear His whisper if we tune out the chaos of the world and listen for that still small voice.
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