He Calls Us

“Eliz-a-beth…. Eliz-a-beth… Eliz-a-beth… SARAH Eliz-A-beth!” I’m sure we’ve all been called this way at some point in our lifetime… Your mom is calling you. And calling you. And calling you. And you’re ignoring her. And finally she calls you by first AND middle name. It’s then that you know you need to pay attention. I won’t tell you how many times this happened to me when I was little, but I’m sure you could probably guess. Be nice! Anyway…. Back to the point. Was I the only one that thought I’d eventually grow out of that phase? OR perhaps, am I the only one still IN that phase? The phase of ignoring my name when it’s called if I don’t want to listen. There’s a story here; I promise. Let me give you this word picture I got today (well it will actually probably be the other day by the time I get this completely down on paper).

If you’ve heard any of my other word pictures you may pick up on a common theme that I’m usually in the car when I get them. This one was no different. I’m not sure why, but God likes to talk to me when I’m in the car. Sooooo, like I said: I was in the car the other day. I had my radio on as usual (I’m not a huge CD person or I-Pod person; go ahead and call me old school) and there wasn’t really anything on that was hit’n the spot with me. I changed it to another preset and that didn’t strike my fancy so I changed it to another one and there was no spark there either. I went through all my presets and just wasn’t get’n the fix that I was after. All the while, I heard this soft nudge… “Elizabeth, turn off the radio.” (This is when I would change to another preset) It came again ever so gently, “Elizabeth, turn off the radio.” (Again, I just changed to another preset) It wasn’t until I got the “SARAH Eliz-A-beth, turn OFF the radio! Now!” Okay, okay! Geeeeze, I’ll turn it off.

Then the word picture came. How many times has God been talking to me and it’s not what I want to hear? Ummmm… I won’t answer that right now. But I’ll tell ‘ya it’s been all too frequent. He told me on this particular day when I was in the car that He is not like the radio. I can’t change the station when He is talking about something just because I don’t like it and don’t want to hear it. Too many times have I tried to drown out my sorrows, worry, fears, self-consumed drama, etc, etc, etc with the radio by hopping from station to station to station to get what I want to hear. God doesn’t work that way. When He has something to say, He wants you to listen and He’ll call you, and call you, and call you until you decide to pay attention. Isn’t that beautiful?!?!

Another tid bit of work He did before He dropped the big bomb on me in the car the other day that you should know about because He is just that good. I just love how this guy works and prepares us when we don’t even realize it! Get this. So at work in my office I have a radio. It doesn’t get much reception. Well, maybe that’s a lie. It only gets one station. And that’s only if the paperclips that are clipped to the antenna are clipped just in the right spot. You didn’t really need to know all that about the radio, but you do need to know this: Every morning when I go in I have the same routine- get my paper work out, turn on the radio, turn on the desk lamp, and get to work. A few weeks ago, I did all that except turn on the radio. Accident I didn’t turn on the radio? I think not. Just hours later on that very same day a very important business man knocked on my door. We’ll just say it was a good thing the radio was off. Not that it would have been a catastrophe if it had been on, but it was just better that it was off. All that to say… ever since then I’ve been enticed to leave it off. After all, it gives me a few hours of peace and quiet before I finish my work in the office and head out to the floor for the craziness of the day to consume my thoughts. The other day I went to turn on the radio and the station was not coming in clearly. I rearranged the paperclips, adjusted the placement of the antenna, moved the location of the radio to try and get better reception in the closet I call my office and none of the attempts to get reception worked. Now, I knew in all of my time using this 99 year old radio, it never got reception of any other stations, but this one. After my attempts of rearranging the antenna and paperclips failed, I decided to change stations just to see what would happen. Low and behold it received another station. Yes, that was singular tense. One more station. Here’s the kicker. It was a Christian station. How’s that for Him preparing to tell me I need to listen to Him more? Not only that, but to play a Christian station in a place of business?? I’ll just say He works in ways better than I can imagine.

Guess you may be wondering what the moral of this story is, huh? For me it’s simple: “Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46:10

But I want to take it a step farther and say: Be still and be QUIET and know that I am God. Something else my mom probably said to me quite frequently when I was little; “Sit still and be QUIET!”

Being still and being quiet can be two different things, I think. I can be still, but not really being quiet at the same time. Music can be a good thing. In fact, it has really spoken to me in the last 12/15 months more than it usually did. Maybe because I came across this great station, Life 88.3, and made a real connection with the morning host, Beth Green. Who by the way is this amazing, godly woman who spoke to many people through her ministry at the station until God had other plans a few months ago. Don’t kill me here, Beth, when you hear this next part. Right now where I am in my journey I’m realizing I need to be careful and not get so wrapped up in listening to the music that I can’t hear God. Hence the be QUIET part of the moral. Don’t get me wrong. I’ll still listen to the radio. I think it can really put you in a state of worship, but it will be different now and perhaps when I’m not getting my fix in music like I would prefer and instead of bouncing back and forth between my presets, I’ll be more likely to turn it off and listen to what “someone else” has to say.

While I’m on the topic of music, I’ll leave ‘ya with this song. Did you know that He knows you more intimately than anyone in the world and adores you; mistakes and all? Ladies, let God sing this song to you and try to really believe what He says about you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhFSgnvKqm4

Post Easter Week... A Real Look at the Meaning of Easter

I’m not gonna lie. It’s been a rough week. Ironically enough, it’s the week after Easter and Satan has attacked from all sides. He’s attacked my attitude, he’s attacked my relationships, he’s attacked my family, and he’s attacked my spirit. He’s doing his darndest to reek havoc in my life again. It didn’t hit me until this morning. I was ironing my pants and getting ready to go to church when I found myself thinking… This time last week it was Easter Sunday and I was feeling pretty good about life and where I stood with things. I was grateful for a God that had saved me from my ways that were slowing but surely killing me. Then I got to thinking again… What is different about THIS week and LAST week? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!

I’m ashamed to admit that I had allowed myself to be consumed with my own drama this week and dismissed that fact that my God is RISEN and has promised to come back for me! How in the world in one weeks time I could forget that is beyond me! He was gracious enough to awaken me and spare me of the continuous lies that Satan will so willingly feed me. I’m going to try and do better on celebrating this amazing Truth everyday during the year and not just on Easter Sunday. And this is the true meaning of Easter… That we can live each and every day with the hope and expectation that we will be restored to glory with Him some day! Ahhhhh… Such a refreshing and simple truth He gives us!