When God Speaks
Who can remember the commercial? - "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."
The commercial where an airplane full of businessmen are talking about finances. One guy starts out with - "Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and he says...." Cue the entire flight of passengers leaning in to hear every word.
If a stock broker is so valued by some, I wonder, when trouble comes, how close do we listen when God speaks?
Is our pocketbook more valuable than our life? Which would you hand over?
We just need to remember, to look at nature to see how God cares for everything He has created.
Spring always follows Winter.
No matter how long it lingers, or can't seem to make up it's mind if it is time to exit Center Stage quite yet.
The birds always find a place to nest, even in some most unlikely places.
Pretty crazy places sometimes.
Places that don't make sense to our superior human minds.
Still, as humans we get in some pretty crazy places ourselves.
Places that do not make sense to our "superior human minds."
What do we do when everything we've known gets built on a barbecue grill?
What security do we have when life throws a curve ball we never saw coming?
Sometimes, it may be simply a matter of neglect or even our own making. The highway patrol doesn't write up a DUI for his own benefit.
But when everything crumbles before our eyes, when our heart gets broken and there is nothing we can do to fix it, and life as we knew it will never be the same, where do we go then?
Jesus came to this earth as a man, some called him the Good Teacher. It is one of His jobs, in fact. When God became man, it was for us. To help us see what God is really like.
The God who loves us, the God who sees us, the God who heals us.
The God who knows exactly what we need to understand the way things are.
The Teacher who is waiting for us to ask him for help when we don't understand our instructions. Just like the teacher who won't tell Judy how to do the assignment he gave to Jack. We each need different things.
In the early days, when we first lost our son, nothing made sense. Many things still don't, and never will. That's not how the circle of life goes. No parent should have to bury their child. It hurts like hell, even when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt my son is in heaven.
Grief does terrible things to your mind. Living in a black fog, I couldn't even begin to grasp the profoundness of love with no place to go. I am never going to hold my son again. I will not see him get married, or visit his very first home as a family. I will never be able to see the pride in his face when he shows us his newborn for the first time. I will never again hear the ringing of his laughter at holidays, the private jokes between siblings. So many moments lost, a lifetime lost to us.
I think the great Teacher knows how staggeringly heavy that burden is to bear, so at first, we are steeped in fog just for protection from the depth of our loss. We cannot possibly bear it all at once, reality only slowly creeps in upon us. Choking out all voices of reason.
But as the darkness of this world engulfs our sanity, do we hear the still, small voice, whispering words of love and healing for our bruised and bleeding hearts?
He is there, right beside you, as you cry out. When life seems unfair. When you scream and the pain doesn't end. Our pain is His pain. He knows. He watched His Son die, too.
His whispers of love are everywhere. He knows just what we need. We only need to be willing to listen. When God speaks what do you hear?
I know God was taking care of me, and He will keep watching over me.
As He will take care of you through your difficulties, too.
I may have to continually remind myself of this, but it is still true.
I don't have an answer to why or how He works, but I know that He can be trusted. The Bible is His written words of promise, but he teaches us in various ways, from unexpected places at times. (Just take a look at the many ways He spoke to the people in the scriptures!)
He came to Moses in a burning bush in Exodus 3.
He used a donkey to talk to Balaam in Numbers 22.
He even wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32.
He spoke to Job multiple times in his whirlwind of losses.
He spoke to the disciples as He walked the earth.
He spoke to the apostle Paul and changed his life.
He is still in the business of speaking to us today. Just not in the way we are accustomed to hearing voices. But He could.
Every one's story is unique, and the way He speaks to you may be totally different. The very first whispers I heard were so real, I felt like I was watching a movie made for my viewing only. When I could not hold on to anything, when I was sinking under the storm, I have an anchor to look back and remember what I saw that day. I know God was speaking to me, giving me the assurance I would need in the middle of the tempest.
In our chaos, He reigns in peace. "Be still," are the words I heard.
And every time I see a toad, or frog, or feel a presence when I am all alone - I smile, knowing that God speaks our language and tells us that it will be ok.
"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10
Taken from stories of the journey of my life by: Sue Leerhoff Brick by Brick
If a stock broker is so valued by some, I wonder, when trouble comes, how close do we listen when God speaks?
Is our pocketbook more valuable than our life? Which would you hand over?
We just need to remember, to look at nature to see how God cares for everything He has created.
Spring always follows Winter.
No matter how long it lingers, or can't seem to make up it's mind if it is time to exit Center Stage quite yet.
The birds always find a place to nest, even in some most unlikely places.Pretty crazy places sometimes.
Places that don't make sense to our superior human minds.
Still, as humans we get in some pretty crazy places ourselves.
Places that do not make sense to our "superior human minds."
What do we do when everything we've known gets built on a barbecue grill?
What security do we have when life throws a curve ball we never saw coming?
Sometimes, it may be simply a matter of neglect or even our own making. The highway patrol doesn't write up a DUI for his own benefit.
But when everything crumbles before our eyes, when our heart gets broken and there is nothing we can do to fix it, and life as we knew it will never be the same, where do we go then?
When you are a student and you don't understand the instructions, you ask the teacher. If you are in the class of a teacher who really knows how to connect with each student at their level, they will explain it so you can understand. They will speak your language, teach toward your bent.
Those are the teachers we will fondly recall years later.
Jesus came to this earth as a man, some called him the Good Teacher. It is one of His jobs, in fact. When God became man, it was for us. To help us see what God is really like.
The God who loves us, the God who sees us, the God who heals us.
The God who knows exactly what we need to understand the way things are.
The Teacher who is waiting for us to ask him for help when we don't understand our instructions. Just like the teacher who won't tell Judy how to do the assignment he gave to Jack. We each need different things.
In the early days, when we first lost our son, nothing made sense. Many things still don't, and never will. That's not how the circle of life goes. No parent should have to bury their child. It hurts like hell, even when I know beyond a shadow of a doubt my son is in heaven.
Grief does terrible things to your mind. Living in a black fog, I couldn't even begin to grasp the profoundness of love with no place to go. I am never going to hold my son again. I will not see him get married, or visit his very first home as a family. I will never be able to see the pride in his face when he shows us his newborn for the first time. I will never again hear the ringing of his laughter at holidays, the private jokes between siblings. So many moments lost, a lifetime lost to us.
I think the great Teacher knows how staggeringly heavy that burden is to bear, so at first, we are steeped in fog just for protection from the depth of our loss. We cannot possibly bear it all at once, reality only slowly creeps in upon us. Choking out all voices of reason.
But as the darkness of this world engulfs our sanity, do we hear the still, small voice, whispering words of love and healing for our bruised and bleeding hearts?
He is there, right beside you, as you cry out. When life seems unfair. When you scream and the pain doesn't end. Our pain is His pain. He knows. He watched His Son die, too.
His whispers of love are everywhere. He knows just what we need. We only need to be willing to listen. When God speaks what do you hear?
I know God was taking care of me, and He will keep watching over me.
As He will take care of you through your difficulties, too.
I may have to continually remind myself of this, but it is still true.
I don't have an answer to why or how He works, but I know that He can be trusted. The Bible is His written words of promise, but he teaches us in various ways, from unexpected places at times. (Just take a look at the many ways He spoke to the people in the scriptures!)
He came to Moses in a burning bush in Exodus 3.
He used a donkey to talk to Balaam in Numbers 22.
He even wrestled with Jacob in Genesis 32.
He spoke to Job multiple times in his whirlwind of losses.
He spoke to the disciples as He walked the earth.
He spoke to the apostle Paul and changed his life.
He is still in the business of speaking to us today. Just not in the way we are accustomed to hearing voices. But He could.
Every one's story is unique, and the way He speaks to you may be totally different. The very first whispers I heard were so real, I felt like I was watching a movie made for my viewing only. When I could not hold on to anything, when I was sinking under the storm, I have an anchor to look back and remember what I saw that day. I know God was speaking to me, giving me the assurance I would need in the middle of the tempest.
In our chaos, He reigns in peace. "Be still," are the words I heard.
And every time I see a toad, or frog, or feel a presence when I am all alone - I smile, knowing that God speaks our language and tells us that it will be ok.
"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10
Taken from stories of the journey of my life by: Sue Leerhoff Brick by Brick
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