Y’all, it’s Friday! That is worth celebrating, right? Yes! 
So, how about another giveaway? This time, it will be a surprise! (Who doesn’t love surprises??) Everyone who leaves a comment today will be entered to win a surprise, Fall-themed gift from me.
On Wednesday, we discussed different Seasons of Nature and Life and talked a little about hearing God’s voice. Today, I want to continue on the subject of hearing God’s voice and also give you an example from my own life of a time God spoke to me and how I responded. I’m considering sharing a personal story along these lines here every Friday. What do you think? My purpose and hope is that your faith will increase and that you’ll maybe even find nuggets of wisdom and learn what not to do as I share my mistakes and/or confess my (gasp) disobedience.
So, we talked about the importance of recognizing prompts from the Holy Spirit and listed some of the various ways God still speaks to us today:
- A still small voice
- A confirming word
- Scripture
- A song on the radio
- Personal prophecy
- A strange coincidence (that isn’t really a coincidence)
- Through other people (mentors, friends, leaders, pastors, strangers)
- Dreams
The tricky thing about hearing God’s voice – no matter the avenue – is that we can choose to heed it and obey or ignore it and disobey. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably done a little of both.
Many years ago, I knew (inner knowing) God was asking me to lay some things down (volunteer obligations, ministry responsibilities, etc). Some I was quick to surrender while others, not so much. Among other things, I had been working for seven years as a ministry coordinator for an evangelist from Australia who also had become a spiritual dad to me. I could not believe God would ask me to surrender this, too, so I held on to it for several months (maybe even closer to a year) past its expiration date.
When we hold on to an assignment that is no longer ours, we not only miss out on what God wants to do next in our lives but we also prevent or delay someone else from taking ownership of their next thing (our old assignment = someone else’s new assignment).
During these months of trying to hold on to this place (old season) that no longer belonged to me, I was miserable. The grace I once had to do my job well and with much favor melted away in the face of my disobedience. Even the simplest task became increasingly difficult. I couldn’t sleep at night. Anxiety sat on my chest with crushing force. When I finally surrendered, peace and joy immediately returned. I was sad emotionally because resigning felt like (and was) a personal loss for me, but all was well once again with my soul.
God’s blessings in obedience are far greater than anything He asks us to give away.
Even when we don’t understand.
As I look back over this time, I can now see what God was doing. Not only was He moving me out of this place and into a required season of isolation before my next phase of ministry began, but He was also moving someone else into the position I left as part of her next phase. My exit created her door of entrance.
Our decision to obey or disobey not only affects us but also directly affects others.
We are all connected in this Kingdom-building mission.
And if I had stayed where I was, remained in an expired season (because we can choose to remain), I would not be where I am today. I would have missed out on a plethora of God-gifted relationships and connections all over the United States and forfeited opportunities that only came because I surrendered something good and trusted God to do something great. I chose to lay down the comfortable and familiar and follow God into the unknown.
We don’t always understand what He is doing, but He is a God we can trust. He is always good. He is always for us.
Your turn to share:
- Has God ever asked you to surrender something you wanted to hold on to? Has He asked you to give something away as a requirement for leaving an old season or a prerequisite for entering a new season? How did you respond?
- What do you feel is your biggest struggle in letting go? Fear? Comfortable/familiar place? Uncertainty? (We’ll discuss some of these over the course of this month’s conversation.)
