| FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Insights (23) |
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| INSIGHTS | ||
Personal experiences which have provoked thought - and created or reinforced particular insights about our lives in God's world.
In this example, one of our church-members recalls a time when she felt herself lacking in thesense of God's voice and guidance in her daily life - and how the assurance was then given to her that God was always there, by her side, and that His guidance would be manifested in the way and at the time that was right - her need was simply to trust and to listen. 'Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it".'
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I had reached the point where I didn't seem to hear God speaking to me and, although I tried to be relaxed about it, I must admit I felt that I was failing somewhere. Had I been given this gift of writing just to have it snatched back? Had I moved from God to a point where He was no longer speaking to me? I had only recently discovered this gift and I was beginning to think that this new period in my life was already over.
It was at a particularly busy time and I thought that perhaps my 'hard drive' had become so full I wasn't open to what God wanted to say to me. I was thinking and praying about this one morning during my quiet time. The thoughts that were going through my mind were that even if God wasn't speaking to me through thoughts, perhaps He was speaking to me through the people I met, nature, my experiences each day - and I wasn't aware of it.
It was then that I realised that God hadn't withdrawn His presence, my mind wasn't closed to Him but what He really wanted at that time was my presence. He wanted me to spend time in His presence, just being quiet before Him; not trying to think deeply, desperately trying to discover what He had to say to me but to wait in silence while He rested in me, assuring me of His love and understanding. It brought home to me just how important our quiet times with the Lord are, just being at one with Him. He may reveal something - He may reveal nothing. The main thing is that we are willing to spend time with Him. The amazing thing is that, through that reading, I realised that God was indeed speaking to me and once more revealing to me another 'thought'! Recently I have realised that, having finished an article, I still feel empty and wonder if I will ever write anything again. Then, twice, at a Church meeting and then by a friend, I have been reminded that God only shows us the way forward one step at a time and gives us all the strength we need for that one step. (My husband, Pete, often says that God is a God of 'just in time'!) The more we spend time in His presence, the more we will be aware of His voice speaking to us. As we begin another Methodist year, I pray that we may all endeavour to spend more time with Him, looking to Jesus and walking with Him, one step at a time. Dorothy R
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At
this point I turned to a book I use each day entitled 'God Calling'. It's a Devotional Diary written by 'Two Listeners', and I would recommend it to all of you. I turned to the reading for that day, entitled 'The Quiet Time'. The first words which drew my attention were, "There may be many times when I reveal nothing, command nothing, give no guidance". This certainly drew my attention! I read on and the sentence which really hit me was, "I may ask you to sit silent before Me and I may speak no word that you could write" (italics are God's, not mine!). All I could think was 'wow'!