When You Can’t Possibly Be Hearing God Right – Inspirational Reads Chapter 4
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Have you ever had one of those times when you have sought God’s wisdom and guidance, walked through the doors He’s opened, turned away from the ones He’s closed, and then covered everything all in prayer again and again only to be left with all doors and windows slammed shut? What about a time when you were left saying to yourself, “Surely I’m not hearing you right, God!”
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There have been a few times that I have felt this way, but there was one time that this experience was a real doozie.
When my sister moved to Florida several years ago, I saw this as the opportunity I had been waiting for to get out of Dodge Michigan. I love warm weather, sunshine, and all things water.
The only problem was, work. I was not working at the time, leaving my husband to be the sole breadwinner. He was working in a profession where he was licensed in the state of Michigan, but he would need to get a license to work in Florida. This was easier said than done. Additional classes, credits, testing, and jumping through all the hoops from one state to the other were all part of our reality. And time. Three years to be exact in order to get through all that red tape.
During that three year time span, we had gone on fact finding missions to Florida three times to job hunt, house hunt, and compare lifestyles, cost of living, and so on. In fact, we even put in a bid on a house once. Moving a large family across the country is not something to walk into lightly when you are doing it by choice, so everything we did we did carefully.
Finally, the license was his. We went on one last mission to Florida to officially interview with the company he had already met with twice. Finally, after more than three years, we were ready to embrace my dream. We packed several boxes at home since we would be listing the house when we got back and off we went. My husband interviewed for two entire days, completed all the required testing, was offered the job, measured for uniforms, and given an official start date.
The next day we were headed to the airport. We were no more than five minutes from my sister’s house when the tears started to roll. They gave way to heaving sobs that were uncontrollable. I had said goodbye to my sister numerous times, but this time was different.
My weeping continued the entire time we were in the airport and for much of the plane ride, too, much to my husband’s dislike. He reminded me more than once that I just needed to get ahold of myself.
Yet I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I knew.
I knew.
I had no idea why, but I knew that this was not right. I knew without question that God was telling me that this job, this move, this path was not the right way. I didn’t know what the right path was or even if the path was to continue, but I knew that right now the answer was a big, fat NO. My dream was dead, and I was in mourning.
We got home and my husband and I went about our lives for a couple of days, not really talking about the whole Florida thing. It was about the third day that my husband came to me and muffled some sort of explanation saying that he didn’t know why, how, or what came next, but this job was not the pathway to get to Florida.
Relief, disgust, despair…I’m not really sure, but in that moment I think that I just might have died a little bit.
We had no idea what to do next, but we knew not to continue forward.
Over the next week, it became clear that God was telling us that the way to Florida was for my husband to go back to school and get a new career.
Now, let me tell you something about my husband and his life as a student. He was lucky to get through high school, and the only way he made it through college was because his girlfriend at the time (yours truly) made sure he got to class, helped him with his homework, and even wrote some of his papers.
You know how when Sarah learned that she would have a baby in her old age she found that idea just a bit ridiculous? Yep. My husband making it through more than two years of college and then nursing school was about as comical to me…and to him.
By the time another week had passed my husband was enrolled in his first semester of college…again. Not because we were ready to start the journey, but because we had to at least rule this whole idea out as a possibility.
Well, he passed. And semester after semester he kept passing. In fact, he even made the Dean’s List, and I did NOT do any of his homework.
Nursing school red tape, stress, tears, and more tears, and he finally made it into the nursing program.
Our nursing school journey isn’t yet complete and has proved to be the most difficult thing my husband and I have ever experienced, but for the purpose of this post, I will save all of those details for another time. Actually, I am convinced that our experience throughout this entire nursing school journey will become my best selling memoir someday so I guess you’ll have to wait for that 🙂
However, I have learned some valuable lessons when it seems like surely you can’t be hearing God right.
Be open
The first thing is to make sure your ears are open. Don’t be so focused on where you think you’re going that you aren’t open to hearing God’s voice.
Just listen
Even if what you seem to be hearing is laughable, listen anyway.
Don’t question
I don’t always get this right, but I did get it right that day in the airport. I knew what I was hearing and it broke my heart, but I didn’t question.
Be okay with not knowing the plan
This is scary, I get it. But when you are following God’s calling in any way, faith allows you to accept the thing that is right in front of you without having to know where you’re going.
Obey
Even when it’s painfully hard, walk the path the God is putting under your feet.
Don’t look back
Sometimes, oftentimes even, obedience is hard. I think what makes it hard for me is I so often want things back the way they were. I don’t like new things, especially when I don’t choose them, and going off in a new direction is scary and hard.
Keep listening and obeying
Sometimes God changes the plans as we go. Don’t assume that you only have to listen and obey once. This is almost always an ongoing process, much like learning to walk.
Keep up your end of the conversation
You keep talking to Him, too. This is especially important if walking in obedience is hard and painful. Don’t feel bad about telling Him you’re struggling, that this is hard, and even that this is painful. He wants to hear these things from you.
Listening to God is never a black and white issue. It is a skill that no one ever truly masters, yet it is the most powerful skill that you could hope to have in your life. Even when hearing God’s voice is difficult, heart wrenching, and even scary, following these steps will help you stay focused on implementing this vital skill.
This post is reflection of the book we are reading as a book club community. This is the book we are reading.
Breaking Busy
Here is a bit more about our book club…
This book club is a way of encouraging others to carve out the time to read at a pace of just two chapters a week because I’ve learned that finding time to read never just happens on its own.
Generally, every Monday and Thursday there will be blog posts here with Monday’s Inspirational Reads somewhere in the title with my reaction to each of the two chapters for the week.
All you have to do is grab your book above, and you’re good to go! We’d love to have you join it, otherwise, grab your own copy and read any of the posts with Monday’s Inspirational Reads in the title and you can join in on your own time!
