As a follow-up to yesterday, I think God led me to look up ‘draw closer to God’ so that I would do the research I ended up doing. The woman using that name has been leading her ministry for 20 years. Lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with what I believe God wants me to do. I’m like Moses: “I can’t do that,” so God is breaking it down for me, showing me the pieces and parts, the baby steps.
Yesterday morning was so interesting! I try to spend my drive time talking to Him, and often, He communicates with me during that time as well.
The first half of my commute is through country roads. As I approached an intersection, there were police cars, a tow truck, an ambulance, and a fire truck. I assumed there was a way to get through, so I kept driving toward it. When I got all the way there, I realized there was no way through or around except to turn around. I was already running very late. As I sped back, I noticed a crossroad that I hadn’t realized was there, but there was no way to make that turn since I was going so fast. Plus, I didn’t know where it went and didn’t feel like being adventurous. So I trekked back four miles to the familiar road.
I asked God, “What do you want me to learn from this?”
He said, “Go back to where you started.”
Since we were talking about my ministry, I took that to mean the concept I started with, “Be Still. Know God.” But, I knew that name was used along with several different variations of it.
I drove a little further. There was a truck parked in the middle of the road with his lights flashing. It was so random.
I heard, “Don’t stop. Go around obstacles and keeping moving forward.”
To reiterate this, there was a city bus parked at a bus stop on the next street, and two vehicles were stopped behind it. I kept expecting them to move, but they didn’t, so again, I just went around.
During all of this, I kept going through the Bible verses that inspire me to want to teach and share my God experiences:
“Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Mark 4:39b ESV
“Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10a ESV
The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:14 ESV
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 ESV
I kept coming back to “Peace through stillness,” but then is it that or “peace thru stillness?” or “peace in the stillness?” It’s a lot to process while driving, so finally, I got stuck behind someone going 20 mph down a city street. I couldn’t go around. All I could do was take a deep breath and pray for direction. “Patience.” I was reminded it’s God’s timing, not mine.
Honestly, I’m not a patient person, but I have told God that I will wait for His response. I’m still waiting, and that’s okay. While I wait, I work on the parts that I can work on. I research how to do things. I’m blessed to be able to listen to videos while I work my day job and came across some wonderful, inspirational women. I can’t share their links here, so I’ll share them on Twitter.
Thank you again for taking this journey with me. As you can see, I want desperately to be obedient to God’s will for my life, but that involves working on various aspects of my personality, such as patience and surrendering control. I’m excited to see how He uses me.
If you’re struggling with being obedient to God’s will, keep praying about it. Ask God for guidance, a servant’s heart, and encouragement.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
Please join me this week in praying for obedient hearts and minds. Let’s pray that God speaks clearly to us that we may discern His voice and His will for us. Pray that we seek to be obedient every single day. Ask Him to guide us to do His will and help us grow to become more Christlike in our daily walk.
