No, I don't mean in a "burning bush" kind of way.
I mean in a still, small voice kind of way.
After teaching Kindergarteners for over 14 years, I might have said a time or two to "be good listeners." But I find I always have to explain every year what that means exactly. Sometimes it works.
One of my favorite things to tell my son is "you'll always learn more by listening than by talking." He still needs that reminder daily.
But do I practice what I preach?
You see, I've always loved to write. As a third grader, I absolutely adored writing for my teacher. In junior high, creative writing assignments were a bonus, not a challenge. In high school, I won awards and worked on our school-wide anthology of creative literature. As the years have gone by, writing has become a form of therapy for me. I've recorded the good times and the bad, but I haven't always shared them with others.
And then comes that still, small voice.
It usually comes when a "story" about an experience starts to take shape in my head. Usually that's when I'm trying to get to sleep for the 3rd time or so.
As I said, there's no burning bush. There's not even a "hey, listen up!" It's more of an idea that I can't seem to let go, or words that keep running over and over in my head until I get them down on paper.
A few weeks ago, I thought that's where I was. Same old routine. New thoughts, new story, write it down and we're good to go.
But it didn't work.
This idea formed about sharing my ideas and stories. About finding a platform that could be bigger than just my Facebook Friends. And God wouldn't let me let that idea go.
That still small voice seemed to get louder, and LOUDER, AND LOUDER.
Without even changing a single decibel.
I can't tell you how many times I went to sleep with the thoughts circling in my head. It was enough that while I was home for Easter Break, I thought "enough already!" and set about finding out more about the blogging world.
A day or so later, after much brainstorming and web-searching, Grace Embraced was born.
And it still took me 2 more weeks to post the first blog, but here you have it. I was spurred on by a dear friend the other day who, after I shared one of our latest "stories" remarked: "You should write a book but people would think it is fiction". That's not the first time I've heard that, so I figured that just might be that voice speaking to me again.
I'm not sure where all this will lead, I only know that this isn't my blog. It belongs utterly and completely to God. I've laid it at His feet and it's truly His to do whatever He needs it to do!
Have you ever noticed that sometimes a particular passage of Scripture seems to be following you?
That's God speaking in His still, small voice.
My latest started showing up in January as the desktop Wallpaper from (in)courage:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD,
"plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
-Jeremiah 29:11.
Then it was EVERYWHERE: In multiple devotionals I read, when I was at my local Christian Book Store, on random friends' Facebook statuses, on church signs as I drove down the road...
My God was speaking to me and reminding me that He had it all under control. And that He holds my future right in His hands. If I've learned anything in this life, it's that I have no idea what the plan for me might be. All I can do is trust in the One who gives me hope and holds my hand. His plan is already in place, I just have to be willing and ready to follow it.
I'm still practicing on my listening and trying to be obedient to His will. Like I tell my little one, "you learn more by listening." My prayer is that someone else might hear that still, small voice through something I share.
It's all in His hands.
