Have you ever tried to quiet your spirit and totally clear your mind? I'm talking about completely clearing your mind and only focusing on ONE thing - God.
On Friday night as I began to try to do this, the only thing that was clear to me was that my mind was ADHD and in serious need of spiritual Ritalin!!! My thoughts were jumping around like a competitive ping pong match.
Fortunately, our retreat leader Ruth gave us some material to help us focus. So I decided to read over what she gave us. One thing I read was a list of ways to focus on God from the book "Practicing the Presence of God." What caught my attention was the suggestion "to hum a hymn or chorus --- inaudibly." I was intrigued because I am NOT a music person - I cannot sing (maybe that's why it said to hum!!!LOL)
Anyway, God brought a song to my mind right then, and I kept hearing it play over and over again. Then, the next thing I read was directly related to the song playing in my head!!! God was speaking to me through the song and confirming it with written words! How powerful!
This continued all weekend. God would give me a new song and then show me something in His Word or in the focus material I was reading that was directly related to the song!!! I'm so glad that I journaled all of this because I do not ever want to forget the specifics of my time with God.
God also spoke in some other tangible ways. On Friday night, we each were given a goody bag filled with lots of treats. The first thing I ate was a bag of trail mix. I ate everything except the raisins - I do not like them.
As my time alone with God continued, I started going through a devotion book that Ruth gave us. The very first devotion was entitled "Help me to say yes... to any request ." A few things came to mind immediately that I knew God wanted me to do, but I hadn't done yet. So, I wrote them down. Then my eyes glanced at the bag of raisins. That's when God spoke to my spirit and said...
"That bag of raisins represents your obedience to Me lately. You have been picking and choosing what you want to do instead of doing EVERYTHING I have asked you to do. (OUCH!!!) I need you to trust Me with all your heart and surrender your will to Mine - completely."
Partial obedience is still disobedience. I've been doing only the things that were easy or that I liked. But, God has been calling me to do so much more. He wants me out of my comfort zone, completely dependent on Him, so He gets the glory instead of me.
On Saturday morning while getting ready for breakfast, I'm not even sure where this came from God brought to mind my hair brushes and other "utensils" I use to fix my hair. All 5 of them!That's right, count 'em 1,2,3,4,5!
Here's how the conversation with God went...
GOD: "Can you please explain why you use 5 "brushes" to fix your short hair?"
Me: "Aaaah.....Hmmm......well......I've never even thought about it. Let me think. Aaaah, because I have been doing it this way since high school. It's a habit I started back when I had really long hair, and I've just continued it."
GOD: "It's time for some new habits. And I'm not just talking about how you fix your hair!"
Me: "It's that comfort zone thing again, isn't it Lord?"
GOD: "Yes it is. You need to trust me with every single detail of your life so we can move forward - together. It's time for a new thing!"
WOW! The quality time God and I spent together sure made me feel loved. It also gave new meaning to "Be still and know that I am God."
I highly recommend spending some time alone with God today. If you listen, He will speak.
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