Listening and being...
The overlooked steps of prayer
Something that I struggled with up until high school was this idea of “listening for God.”
How is God supposed to speak to me?
And what am I listening for???
And, honestly, it wasn’t until a Sr. High Retreat where I had my first encounter of hearing God that everything clicked for me.
I was angry and angsty, frustrated with feeling lonely and that life was so unfair to me (which, at the time, were valid concerns for me)…and so I prayed the most honest prayers I had up to that point.
And then…completely unrelated to what I had been praying…I had a thought.
Something that I would have never thought on my own at the time (I was crazy shy and introverted, too scared to talk to new people most of the time).
I think I want to be a youth pastor.
And the rest of that story is for another time.
But I knew, without a doubt, that thought could only pop in my head because God said it to me.
And it was confirmed later on as my call to ministry. (While I’m not currently a youth pastor, I consider myself to be in non-traditional ministry)
And where am I going with all of this?
Listening doesn’t have to mean sitting in silence and emptying your mind for minutes and hours on end.
Sometimes, listening is being your most true self before God and then paying attention to what happens next.
Maybe it’s a thought that creeps in, like what happened to me.
Maybe it’s a phone call you get later that day.
Maybe God speaks through the rain drops, the birds, or the music in your ears.
Listening is less about straining your senses and more about being yourself and noticing things as they happen.
Listening and being go hand in hand.
My prayer for today
Our Father, thank you for the sunshine, music, or even the random poster on a community billboard we happen to see. Spirit, reveal yourself to us in the mundane as well as the spectacular. Amen.
Remember
From the whispered words of a loved one at just the right time to an unprovoked thought, pay attention to all the ways God might be trying to speak to you through the Spirit. And, if you aren’t sure that God is speaking through that particular thing, write it down, date it, and revisit it later and see if there has been any confirmation.
If the act of writing down something spur of the moment attracts you, then you might enjoy the Pray: Field Journal. Check it out below, if you are so inclined!
