Be quiet!

Hi guys! Sorry I'm late tonight, I was busy at lunch today (went out with me daddy) and just got home from errands a little while ago. I'M SOOOO TIRED. 

I had a conversation with a friend this week and I thought just maybe we could all stand to hear it.  Basically a friend asked me to pray for him, he didn't tell me what exactly the request was but God knows... Anyway, one night this week I was praying and thinking about how impatient I can be when I'm waiting on God.  How sometimes I just want to hear him speak but he stays silent in the business of my life... It's frustrating but it's all part of the process we call life and there's nothing wrong with waiting.  Yes, yes, work on what you can do in the meantime but it's okay to wait.

I've always heard it said that God is a perfect gentleman and He will never force a person to do anything they don't want to do... He will never force His plan into your life even if He knows it's what is best for you, you have to reach for it, you have to work for it and you have to want it... But it's more than wanting, it's in the asking, the trying the seeking. Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Then there's the whole listening part... You know, that being still God asks us for...  Psalm 46:10-11 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. I'm not so good at that part. And in prayer it never feels quite okay to just be quiet but I don't have any friends who talk non-stop without pausing to hear my thoughts in return,and I don't think God is that different.. If He is a perfect gentleman -and He is - then He's most likely not going to interrupt us mid-sentence to get His point across... We have to show Him we want to hear what He has to say to us, we must listen for what He has to speak over us. There are no "prayer police" trolling the floor ready to strap our knuckles the moment we pause for a breath, it's not about how many words per minute we can get out; rather, it's about connection with Him and you can't build a connection if the hearing is all one sided, it's okay to be quiet! It's always the friends we can just do anything (or nothing with) that become our best friends, people who get when we just don't feel like chatting or talking about our day and who are satisfied just to be with us... Well, it's the same with Him.

So, there it is, just a little encouragement that it's okay if you're in the waiting, it's okay to listen, it's even okay to just not feel like talking, still seek Him... Still work on what you can do... Spend time with Him in the quiet, push away the business of life to do nothing with Him. It will surprise you how much can be said by your heart and how much you hear when your lips are still.