Tag: God’s voice

art, Obedience

What If … Obeying God

The Kedge Anchor

In the last post, I shared a creative process. I made up a game called “What If…” What if I just sat down to paint? What if I just made some marks? What if I mixed green and orange together? What if I tried something new or different? So I did. I sat down to paint and play and try some new art supplies. And I surprised myself.

When I was done, I actually liked what I painted. Was it perfect? No. Could I make improvements? Of course. Then I began to think. What if? What if I took more risks, more chances? What if I was more in tuned to hearing God’s voice? What if I was and obeyed Him? I guess this is where I began to reflect on areas in my life where I am hesitant to obey, not hearing to obey or just not obeying.

My intention in my artistic exercise was to paint, to stop procrastinating and do what brings me joy. It wasn’t to make a perfect piece of art, it wasn’t for anyone it was for me. Sometimes I find it hard to find time to do just this, paint. Once I began to evaluate what I was doing with my time, I began to see pockets of time with which to create. I really need to keep time limits on scrolling social media. When scrolling takes away from what I need to do and what I enjoy doing, it becomes an issue. Now, when I find I have an idol moment, if there is nothing pressing on my to do list, I choose to do something artistic. This takes a bit of practice, training, discipline.

When it comes to obeying God I believe the same can apply. It takes training, practice, discipline. I first need to actually recognize His voice and I can’t do that if I’m not reading His word daily. What’s my intent when I read my Bible? Like when I sit down to paint, why am I doing this? My intent is to hear God’s voice so that I can obey Him. Sometimes I feel like I’m not obeying because I’m not sure I am hearing His voice. John 10:27 – “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” and there’s more, a promise, a blessing verse 28 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on some things, blessings, because I am not paying attention to the God’s voice. God knows my heart. So when I am earnestly trying to do what I think He wants me to do in a situation or even in the slightest seemingly, smallest thing I know He sees me trying. Many times I fail. He might be telling me to reach out to someone and I may be hearing a voice that says “don’t disturb them.” Or it could be buy extra food at the grocery store and I hear, “you’re on a budget.” If God is telling me to buy extra food, it’s not for us. It’s for someone else. There have been times my husband has come home from work and asked if I could pick up some extra cans of soup, granola bars or cereal for the food closet at work and I listened to the voice that told me I was on a budget. Ugh!

Now that I have recognized this pocket of time, I need to act on it and paint or draw. Take the risk. Recognizing God’s voice is still a work in progress. When I recognize it I need to obey it. Take the risk. That’s a risk that will always give a return on investment. I can’t lose. I can’t loose by making messy art, I can still learn. It may not be pretty but I will walk away learning to do something or not do something. By obeying God, I really can’t lose. Even if I mess up somehow, God will work out my mess, Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

What if…, what if I stopped procrastinating and painted or did something creative everyday? What if I stopped to hear God’s voice everyday and obeyed? What if…?

Trust God, Uncategorized

Walk by Faith, Learn by Sight?

The Kedge Anchor

Photo by Tobi on Pexels.com

2 Corinthians 5:7 says – ” for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

The ability to see is a gift from God. As one of our five senses, it allows us to see the beauty of God’s creation. God is speaking to us all the time, we just aren’t listening.

I was going through an older journal and came across something I wrote, this was a while back, like before this blog, but still worth a mention. I was out walking and tried to take notice of everything I was seeing. The trees, God put this verse in my heart Jeremiah 17:8 – “He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

There were lots of robins and small birds flying and foraging for food, God gave me Luke 12:24 -“Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!”

I was admiring some of the homes with the manicured landscapes and God gave me, John – 14:2 “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

I noticed the cracked pavement and God gave me, Revelation 21:21 -“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.”

Looking at the bright and hot sun, God gave me, – John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” “

It was a fairly cloudless day with the exception of a few wisps, and God gave me, James 4:14 – “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Just recently, my husband and I were traveling. We had booked our flights separately but were lucky enough that my husband was sitting in front of me which allowed him to board first. I had some bulky carry on bags and he could have waited to board with me, but he decided to go head of me so that he could help me with my bags. Made me think of Deuteronomy 31:8 – “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Just as my husband went ahead of me so that he could help me, God goes before us to help us. We just have to TRUST and KNOW.

So God gives us these images and objects to remind us of Him and the words He has spoken in the Bible. He paints parables with pictures to teach us. The shepherd and the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son to name a few. We are not to worship these images. We are to learn from them, help us to remember what God is teaching us. But when we are walking with Him we can’t walk by what we see. We can’t allow how we see our circumstances to dictate to us how to respond. He asks us to walk by faith not by sight. Sounds a lot easier said than done and it is at times. We are human.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to walk by faith to remain true to the one true God walking into the firey furnace. Noah walked by faith building an ark with no rain. Joshua had to literally take a step of faith walking into the Jordan River. When Peter stepped onto the roaring sea to walk to Jesus, he walked by faith taking that first step until he took his eyes off Jesus and looked around him and began to sink.

Our circumstances can deceive us. When we see we a low balance in our account, it’s hard not to panic or freak out. When we get a scary diagnosis or a relationship goes south, it’s so hard to not look at what we see and freak out like Peter did on the ocean. Yet God teaches us through images and tangible objects to help remind us and build our faith.

How is God speaking to you to today? Maybe He’s speaking to you while you’re sitting at traffic light? Maybe you’re just waiting in a check out line? Stop and take a moment to hear God’s voice. Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.