Just another day...

It started out like any other day really, waking up groggy, pulling myself out of bed and stumbling down the stairs to my anything other than quiet, children. Breakfast, cartoons, my much needed drug, coffee, and my day was rolling. I was climbing up the stairs for probably the 10th time that morning, who needs gyms anyway, when a thought hit me. "Are you gonna journal today?" This needs a little explanation.

Last night, at my girls bible study, we started a new study on 'How to Hear God's Voice'. So cool. I will never tire of this subject since it is one of the sole reasons I am a Christian. I have a relationship with God, and how is that possible if I can't hear His voice and have conversations like a normal relationship? During this first lesson, he, Mark Virkler, gave 4 keys that he has found helpful for hearing God's voice.

1. Stillness 2. Vision 3. Spontaneity 4. Journaling.

Now, these all require a bit of explaining and biblical references, so for time's, and space sake, I will touch on them briefly. More can be found online at www.cwgministries.org. Anyway, stillness, quieting yourself down, heart, mind and thoughts. Easier said than done right? This is my biggest obstacle. It is so hard for me to turn off the music and sit with my Father. Every time I do, I am rewarded. I have found the car a great sanctuary, when I don't have the kids, to turn off the stereo and just listen and talk with my Father. Which brings us into the next key, using our vision, or hearts' eye to picture our Father. Take a bible story and place yourself there with the Lord. He used an example of John 4 with the woman at the well. Instead of the woman, he put himself there and read the story. This is where it gets really interesting and brings us to the next part, spontaneity. Have you ever been driving, or thinking, and had a random thought pop into your mind? Something like, Oh, I need to pray for so and so. Or, wow, I wonder how my Mom is doing, I should call her. How many of us ever thought that that could be our Father? Certainly not me, His voice should be booming and loud, not my random thoughts...

I decided to keep listening. How many times have I heard in scripture that its the 'still, small voice'? And yet, I never really put two and two together that my thoughts and feelings were a huge part of that. No wonder people have a hard time defining God's voice. Now, the most important part of all of this is to have accountability. You can't go waiving your new found thoughts on people declaring them God's. We all know how that ends, not well, especially for those kool-aid drinkers...just sayin.

This brings me to the last part, journaling. As he pictured himself in the story, he began to journal what he thought God would be saying to him. What he discovered were pages and pages of material that he thought could maybe be God speaking to him. He took it immediately to his wife to hear her thoughts and she said, 'yes, that sounds like God to me'. So he kept going. Pages and pages of him interacting w/ his Father. Why? There was not time to say in the middle, 'was that me or God'? Instead, you can write all you want, finish, then go back through, compare w/ scripture and pray if it was in fact something God would say.

Needless to say as I left last night I thought to myself, I need to do this tomorrow and see what happens. So, as I was climbing the stairs I felt that familiar 'tug' on my spirit say, 'Are you gonna journal?' Of course I had my reasons not to. I was busy, I was tired, I needed to shower, I needed to get dressed, I needed to play w/ my son, and on and on I went. Finally, I told myself to 'shut up' and I put my butt in my chair and sat down w/ my coffee and my Father. I myself have been reading through John recently so I went back to the woman at the well story myself to see if that vision could maybe work for me. As it turns out, it did.

I started reading and I imagined myself at the well, coming up to see a man sitting there, looking tired and resting. He asked me for water and I said, "why would you ask me". He then gave me an earful ;o) "Because I love you, I created you and you are special to me. You are wonderful and I created you specifically for this time and place. I love you so much and you are so dear to me and my Father. I revel in you. I have made you for our pleasure. You are amazing and you have things you have not yet discovered. Keep pursuing me and I will find you. You are my joy, my reason for life, the reason I died. I died for you, so you could walk with me. I am always here, even when you doubt. I will never leave, I am here for you always, do not forget this. I love you child and I am so proud of you. Go in peace."

Wow. I ended up writing about 4 pages worth of encouragement from my Father. This is what Christianity is. To be in relationship and living out of the voice of God in our lives. What if everyone did this? How cool would that be? He is so ready to dish out much needed living water into our lives. He is waiting to pour it on us at any moment, all we need is to listen and ask.

Other important references from this study are from Habakkuk 2:1,2, Ps. 46:10, Heb. 12:1,2, Num. 12:6, Acts 2:17, John 7:37-39, Ecc. 5:1,2

Remember that only good comes from our Father. If you question something, which you should, please take it to scripture and another trustworthy person. Happy Hearing!

Just the beginning...

Where to begin. This all started about 3 months ago after I, along with my husband and others, took a class called, 'The Art of Hearing God'. Pretty cool. I had wanted to take this class for over a year, maybe two, and the opportunity finally arrived. The class did not disappoint. I walked away thinking, or 'chewing', over our intense 21 hour course and where I wanted to go from here. You could almost rename this class, 'The Lost Art of Character', because that is what 90% of the material was about. I loved it. Basically, it was all about rebuilding, or just building, your character. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are amazing, but what good are they if we have no character to go with them? In today's society, sadly, character is one of those elements that has been slowly declining in everyday life. Families, schools, jobs, and churches are no exception to the loss of character. Questions like, 'how do you treat your wife or husband? How do you act at work? Are you lazy? Are you on time? Are you honest? Do you listen to people or like me, pretend to listen just waiting to interject your amazing part of their story? Ouch. My friend called the weekend a 'healthy slap in the face'. So, after chewing on all of this information I found myself talking to God, bouncing some ideas back and forth and listening, for once, to His input instead of my own.

As I was listening, I was feeling excited for the next season of life. A season full of possibilities and limitless boundaries. I wanted more. I wanted more 'God stories' and more encounters. More character building and accountability to what really matters in life. The past two years have been amazing years of discovery and new identity in who I am in Christ. I am in 'process' and I hope I always will be. I am ready and excited to experience His love in real ways. To encounter Him in all areas of life, not just the big, life changing decisions. How often do we put Him on the sidelines as our safety, then when we encounter one of life's many hardships we 'tag' Him in, then when its fixed, we put Him back and go on our merry way. I love that He loves us enough to let us do that, but really, I think He's just waiting for the opportunity to really blow our socks off. I myself am no exception. It wasn't until just two years ago that I started encountering God in a whole new way, and I was being prompted to share. This is what this blog is about.

This will be a collection of right now, in your face, God encounters. Some will be mine, a lot will be my dearest and closest friends. All are true, and all, I hope, will encourage you in some way to think differently of our Father. He is waiting. He already loves us, we know that much, but how He wants and longs to show His love for us! Real, intimate, violent love. He might show us through dreams, visions, songs, people, email, newspapers, trees, water, rocks, you name it, He can use it. Thats how good He is. Does He have to? No. But the cool thing is, He does.

"You know me inside and out,

you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day."

Psalms 139:14-16 (The Message translation)

I will be the first to admit I have no idea what I'm doing and I am learning everyday to hear His voice in my life. It is a process, and I am in process. As my friend Rob Mazza says, "God is bigger than previously thought".