When God Speaks...

Here's a great story from Rachelle Cihonski about seeking God's advice, even when doing something as simple as planning our day. Check out the lesson God taught her:

Listening to God is a challenge, trust me. I struggle with it probably more than anyone I know. Why? I have a big mouth that doesn’t want to shut, ever. But I learned that when we actually take the time to listen, amazing things begin to happen.

My story of listening to what God wants is a funny thing that goes something like this: On Wednesday, I was trying to decide which I wanted to do that day, construction or the homeless shelter. Well, I talked to Russ about this and his answer was “pray about it”. So that is exactly what I did during devotionals. I asked God to clear my mind and then I opened my Bible to a random passage and asked him to use that to speak to me. Now, here is the thing, construction that day was tearing off a rooftop of a house and the verse I read was Isaiah 22:1-11 and it said this:

This message came to me concerning Jerusalem: What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops?

The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed by famine and disease. All your leaders flee. They surrender without resistance. The people try to slip away, but they are captured, too.

Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed. You inspect the walls of Jerusalem to see what needs to be repaired…But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help. He is the one who planned this long ago.

These verses were an answer to prayer (I spent the morning up on the rooftop), as well as a parallel idea to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. This passage totally opened my eyes and helped me to realize that if I actually take the time to listen, God will answer, even in the most bizarre ways. He taught me the most important lesson I will probably ever learn: how to shut my mouth and listen to the Creator, the one who gave me my voice.

Trust me, if you take the time to hear what He says, He will make sure that you get the idea, one way or another.