30 hours.
30 hours away from home and comfortability. I knew no one as my feet boarded the plane. I didn’t know the people picking me up other than their voice through the phone. I arrived around 11pm & still had 3-4 hours to travel down dark dirt roads with no lights to be seen other than our car. I hadn’t seen pictures of where I would be staying. I didn’t know the type of food I’d eat. I didn’t know much of anything other than I felt fire in my heart from the Lord to go and knew I was called. The Lord called me to a country I had never been to, without a team, without a physical ‘church’ supporting me (building that is; I did have a body people praying). Why?
There were some that doubted I heard God’s voice correctly. It wasn’t out of lack of love though; I appreciated them and took their advice seriously. It did cause me to doubt that I heard God’s voice too. I wonder how often we do that to one another? It’s one of the reasons I’ve grown to ask confirmation from Him so that I know I am walking in His will vs others/my own (people in scripture also asked for the same). The Lord will be faithful to provide what is needed to get us on the way. The Holy Spirit works differently through me than He will through you. And because He is incredibly good, I was privileged to see Him heal a blind woman in front of my very eyes, witness souls saved through His power and have memories I cherish in this lifetime.
I share this in the prompting and importance of understanding Gods voice over our own, our spiritual leaders/mentors, and the many voices of the world. We (and I speak for me) tend to automatically blame the enemy. Yet, it may not be the enemy that is causing doubt/confusion. It could be the many other voices we are listening to. How do we get to know Gods voice more? We spend time studying Him and understanding how He speaks specifically to us! It’s why Paul advises in Corinthians to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. God speaks to each of us differently. Unfortunately and fortunately, a lot of the time when God does speak, it doesn’t make sense in our natural, finite, mind. It is apart of strengthening our dependence to trust His will over our own.
I was fearful of man for a glimpse of last year in sharing some of my story in thoughts people would think it was about me. Funny thing? Our story is rarely about us unless we try to convince others we are better/should be idolized. Because we are important to our Father, we can twist that importance and need approval from man. God knows my heart and God knows yours. He has gifted us stories so that others may know Him! We can be excited to share stories of our encounters with Jesus. We should celebrate it!
Can you imagine Paul in our day & age?? I’ll leave it with you to imagine how Paul would respond in our time…. I do believe what we share here and what we do here matters. Not always for the now, but for eternity.