Where is my BILLBOARD?!?

As I studied 2nd Samuel last night, I became strangely envious of David's ability to seek God and actually hear an answer from Him. No matter how much power David gained and no matter how many successes he experienced, he continued to seek God's faced first before any decision (large or small). And when he did, God answered him...and he answered him mightily.

So I started thinking...where in the world is my billboard? Don't I ask questions? Don't I seek wisdom? Why haven't I seen some sign in the sky? Why haven't I audibly heard the voice of my Creator? I am starting to wonder if I actually listen.

While God might not come down out of the heavens to answer me as He did David, He has continuously put answers in front of me. Now, whether or not I choose to recognize them is one thing! That's actually the thing I'm still learning. However, I think now is a good time to stop praying for signs and start asking for a listening heart and opened eyes. 

I had lunch with a close girlfriend today, and she graciously shared her heart with me in an effort to encourage me in this particular season. I was truly dumbfounded as she spoke, because what she shared, without my prompting or questioning, was exactly what had been on my heart the past few days. I told her that it was as though she had ESP! I am praising God now, just 30 minutes after our lunch, for His beautiful billboard posted on my heart via the words of an amazing friend. 

In my Thursday morning Bible study, we reviewed the passage that illustrates examples of serving God. When Jesus spoke to the disciples, He pointed out that whatever one man did for the "least of these," he has done for God. How often do we miss the face of Jesus? How often are we approached by another in need of help, and we quickly turn a cold shoulder out of uncertainty or annoyance? How often do I receive true and Godly wisdom from someone without recognizing it as a God-breathed billboard? 

I'm starting to get the message...it's time to stop begging for a sign and hoping for a miracle. We are living the miracle...we are in the midst of His signs. Each day He surrounds us with His presence in a new and refreshing way. Perhaps it is time I slow down and recognize His grace in instead of questioning His sovereignty. 

A New Year...every day

Wow....just a few weeks since my last post. Somehow time slipped away. Isn't that always the case? I feel like my journal says that repeatedly.

This time, as the New Year rolled in, I interpreted the changing of the season (and subsequent changing of the date) in a new way. Each year, I find myself reflecting on the past 12 months and evaluating what I have accomplished, what I have left undone, what I have done well, and what I have done...well...not so well. Ultimately, I end up in a massive "funk" for a few days as I begin to sink into a pit of self-deprecation and eventual fear of failure for the next year that is literally minutes away. I find myself regretting the past rather than rejoicing over redemption. I become ingrained in the negatives instead of relishing in the positives. Worst of all, I begin preemptively telling myself that the next year will be no different....talk about shoving God into a box. I might as well stuff His grace and sovereignty in that tiny box and put it on the very back shelf of the deepest and darkest place in my heart. Thank goodness He is too Kingly and Majestic to stay in that box!

This year, as the date changed from 2008 to 2009, I realized what an opportunity we are given to experience a "New Year" every day. We become so hung up on resolutions that we miss the ever-present gift of salvation in front of us each day. We have God's love letter to us in the form of His spoken word, and yet we depend on an earthly time change to wash us of a tough past and ready us for a different future. I am not sure about you, but I don't long for a different future...I long for a hopeful one. Jeremiah 29:11 confirms that He has that hopeful future for us. His mercies are new every morning. Whew.

Our hope is in Him...not a time change. Welcome, friends, to your New Year. Onward and upward.