“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27
Obedience. That’s probably the one word that scares me the most. Why? Because honestly, I don’t trust God enough. I know he has a plan for good in my life, and that he works all things for good. But I also like to know where I’m going, what the plan is, and when things are going to happen. I’ve grown in this area a hundred fold over the past few years. But still, if I can figure out how, or when, or what, I like it. When things don’t go as planned, I can react as if the bottom is dropping out and my faith waivers.
I was in downtown St. Louis almost two years ago attending a Joyce Meyer conference with my mom and my friend. We decided to walk down by Busch Stadium because there was a night game in session. As we stopped on the sidewalk across the street from the stadium, a woman who was homeless came up and asked us for money. She told us she had diabetes and seven kids to feed and needed the money for medicine and food. My first instinct was to give her some money. We prayed for her but I didn’t give her money.
The next day, my mom and I were walking by the Edward Jones Dome when we walked by this woman again talking to someone else. We were surprised we saw her again, and I had the same thought to give her something, but we kept walking. After eating, we decided to walk to Busch Stadium just a few blocks away on our way back to the hotel. As we walked past a Macy’s store, I was explaining to my mom it had closed down since last year. Out of nowhere comes the same lady from behind. “Yeah, that Macy’s closed down last month”, she told us.
Okay God. I’m listening. She told us her same story. I told her about the dream center giving away food and maybe she could try there. I asked her what her seven kids’ names were. She recited them off quickly. Whether her story was true or not I wasn’t sure. What I did know was she appeared to us in three separate areas that were not in close proximity to one another. By now I ‘m thinking there is a pattern to this and I can’t make this up. I felt like I heard God saying very clearly: “GIVE. HER. SOME. MONEY.” So, we gave her some money.
My point isn’t about whether I should or shouldn’t have given her money, or to question what she was going to do with the money. It was a simple lesson in obedience from God telling me to give her some money, don’t question why, just do it.
Sometimes there are clear signs we miss. I wish I could hear God as clearly with all of life’s bigger decisions. Listening to God can be difficult when there are so many distractions pulling us away from his presence. For me, hearing him is easier when I’m closely connected to him through prayer and his word. The thing I’ve learned is when I ask God for help, he’s there. When I ask for guidance, he gives it to me. He never gives me the whole picture, just little affirmations of faith that tell me I’m following him.
Trusting and obeying him is hard, but he’s written a unique story for us all that is so much better than the one we could write for ourselves. Trust and obey God, even if it doesn’t make sense, and even if it seems he’s telling you to go somewhere or do something that scares you.
Tiffany