LISTEN

The past two weeks of my life have been very difficult…. Who am I kidding, the past 13 years have been progressively difficult, not just for me, but for my whole family. Every year we start out by saying that it will be our year of rest and at the end, we are literally panting from our exhaustion. It has been like this year in and year out for about a decade.

Trials are a part of life. In fact, Jesus promised that exact thing to his disciples, so it’s nothing new or unexpected. I have actually started accepting it as a part of the Christian walk (finally!!)….

What I'm writing about today is not the trials that we should expect as Christians, it's about our response to the trials…..

I had reached a place where I was content. I was living my life, trying my hardest to live a life pleasing to God, when all of a sudden, I became overwhelmed... I cried out my frustrations to God and, as you know, in any relationship, there has to be room for compromise, and you should always be open to the other party’s side of view… Nope, not for me!! I was unwilling and stubborn, so essentially, I was fighting with God and not allowing Him to comfort me or show me why these things were happening. I was not allowing Him to take all the excess weight I was carrying and carry it Himself…

So now I was walking around with a building on my back, not listening to Him then metaphorically speaking, an elephant landed on top of the building…. YUP!!! I was crushed!!... Now, I’m crushed and stuck in this glass box so I can’t hear anything or anyone.... I was NUMB and I couldn’t hear from God... Walking around like a robot is not a way to live, Trust me!!        

A friend reminded me of Proverbs3:5-6:

            Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. 

This verse shattered my box and l cried out to God. He promptly removed the building and elephant from my back. I was still in exactly the same place I was in the previous day, but this time, I could walk. I could smile and most importantly, I could pray again.

In 1 Kings 19:11-13 God sent Elijah to the mountain to hear from Him. There, an earthquake, a hurricane and a fire all came but God was not in them. Elijah could not hear from Him.... He was in a whisper.

Elijah was in a very low point of his life. The king was trying to kill him, and he was the only prophet left alive. This was bad, it really could not get any worse, could it? He could have decided to dwell on that. To dwell on the earthquakes, hurricanes and fires that were literally there…. He decided not to. God had sent Elijah to the mountain to hear from Him and that was what he would do. Elijah decised  to listen closely and he heard God in a gentle whisper.

As Christians, our lives can be so full of hurricanes, earthquakes and fires that it’s literally impossible to dwell on anything else. We should try our hardest to listen beyond all that noise and chaos. We will hear the voice of God and He will calm the storms… EVENTUALLY.

JUST LISTEN….

Now, I know that listening is very hard when we are listening to each other as human beings… Imagine how hard it is to listen for God’s voice!!! It comes with daily reading and meditation of the word and prayer. I encourage people to forget everything and be VERY DELIBERATE with their relationship with God. He is the only constant. Seek after Him and you will find Him... You will hear from Him

LISTEN HARD….

God loves you... And so do I

ADDY