Be Quiet and Listen

With this post I wish I could express just how amazing GOD is. However, that is nearly impossible because He is unexplainable, He is better than words, and more so He goes beyond all comprehension. So anything I have to say about Him pales in comparison to the greatness of all that our God is.

Knowing all of this, I wish I was better at LISTENING to Him. I get so caught up in myself a lot of days that I realize I've gone through the motions again, not paying attention to where the Lord wanted to take me, who He wanted me to talk to, or what He wanted to say to me.

If you're like me, you may sometimes doubt the faithfulness of God. I think in my heart I always know He'll come through, but my head has the hardest time wrapping itself around the idea...I guess that's why we're called to live by faith, eh?

I'm learning when I feel that little nudge in me to say something to someone or hold my tongue or whatever it is the Spirit may be prompting me to do...I just need to do it. Even if I'm wrong and I go out of my way to say something nice to someone, they'll still be blessed and the Lord still sees the willingness of my heart to serve Him through something so small. It seems unfathomable to me that I can see the faithfulness of God in my life...and the next day doubt that He'll show up again...even though HE SHOWS UP EVERY SINGLE TIME!

"The world is not moved by love or actions that are of human creation. And the church is not empowered to live differently from any other gathering of people without the Holy Spirit. But when believers live in the power of the Spirit, the evidence in their lives is supernatural. The church cannot help but be different, and the world cannot help but notice." (Francis Chan, Forgotten God)

I went to one of my favorite Nashville coffee spots tonight with two great friends of mine. We'd been enjoying ourselves talking and pretending that we were in Greece and playing dumb games when a guy walks over to our table. I scanned our area and noticed we had already taken our coffee cups back, so he didn't work there and wasn't coming to clear off our table. I figured this would be one of those typical 'random guy talks to random girl' moments...we'd all be a little weirded out and then laugh about it later. He introduced himself, complemented my headband and I made a comparison of our hippie looks for the evening (since he donned a bandanna across his forehead.) Well, for whatever reason my hippie comment led him into telling his life story to us. Usually by this point I've written the guy off wishing he'd hurry up and leave so we could get back to enjoying ourselves. Since he didn't give off the "creeper" vibe, I kept getting the feeling that we needed to hear him out (which I found out later we'd all had the same prompting). We became actively engaged in his story and I realized that this was one of those times that I needed to seek the Lord for wisdom in how to respond. He was wrapping up when my heart started beating faster and faster (a sign that usually shows me I'm about to talk and I'm super nervous to do so). I kept praying for the Lord to guide me and when he finished I told him I was a Christian and wasn't sure if he believed in God or not, but that God wanted him to know He had a plan for his life and that He's given our friend a great set of talents that are to be shared with others. He'd also mentioned that he had been really sick lately and he then let us pray for him, for healing and blessing and more revelation of God in his life. I can't even remember the words spoken, but the feeling of allowing God working through us was awweeessome.

That's how we're supposed to live, Christians. I have no idea if I'll ever see this guy again, I have no idea if he's healed physically, I have no idea if the impact I felt from our encounter felt the same way to him...but I do know that God showed me that's what we need to do and how we're supposed to live. It doesn't matter if we feel dumb, and the worst someone can do is tell us no we can't speak to them (and that's ok!). But who doesn't want to hear that there's hope? Because there is, THERE IS HOPE! "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" (Romans 15:13).

So my challenge to you and to myself is get out of our boxes. Get to know someone new, buy a meal for someone, leave unexpected gifts for people, pray for a random person on the street, etc. ("Do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but whatever is given to you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit" --Mark 13:11)

We need to WAKE UP! Wake up to what we're called to do and how we're supposed to live while we're in this world. Share the love of God to someone who may not know about His love, or to someone who needs to be reminded...which, yep, that about accounts for every person in this world.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Francis Chan (again taken from his book Forgotten God). He was talking about the disciples after they had received the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). He says, "The Spirit led the first Christians to do unexplainable things, to live lives that didn't make sense to the culture around them, and ultimately to spread the story of God's grace around the world."

I want to live like that. So who's with me?