Week 28: When God Speaks

Ginger Studying

This picture is from this afternoon.  I remember looking over and inspiration struck.  If you knew what a miracle this shot was.  Not from a technical perspective, but from a health one.  Ginger, for the first time in a long time, got up to go to church this morning.  The past several weeks, the anxiety and depression were to such a point that getting out of bed in the morning was hard.  But this weekend has been a better than last weekend which ended well.  We went to church, came home and walked Sophie, and then Ginger ate lunch and studied.  Truly, in small steps, I am getting my wife back.

She had a rough week, even though there are only 10 days left for her to work.  Just another mark in the road that we feel God is showing us the right decisions to make.  No the anxiety attacks are not fun but it just confirms that when Ginger is sick, work is nearly impossible.  And considering how long she has tried to cope with this, she is a brave girl having gone as far as she has.   Her journey is not over, I am not sure what God has planned in this new journey we are embarking on, but this I know, God is with us.

My Mom touched my heart last week when she asked me how I was doing?  I am doing better, I can feel the depression clawing at the edges of my mind seeking a place to take a hold.  Summer has never been good for my depression, but having lived with it for most of my adult life I have learned when I need to say something.  But we also had storms this week, which may seem really random, but I have always loved storms since I was little, and the sound of thunder is like a beat to my heart. So when I hear the rumble of thunder, my mood lifts.

And God has been revealing Himself to me, speaking to me.  For example.  One of the things I do when I get home is I take Sophie for a walk, waiting on Ginger to get home.  I walk in, lay down and get the mandatory face lick, then I ask if she wants to go on a walk.  Our little girl goes crazy excited.  She LOVES walks.  So as Sophie is circling around me, trying to get me to hurry up and put on her leash to take her out to walk I heard that still small voice.  Peaceful, full of wisdom and love, that voice said, "Do you approach your walk with Me with the same fervent desire as Sophie does when you take her for a walk?"  In other words, when I walk with God, whether reading His word, praying, meditating, do I approach the Creator of the Universe with the same desire?  We have a friend who told us, the Creator of the Universe wants to spend time with you!  Was it convicting?  Yes.  But there was no condemnation.  There wasn't any guilt.  Just a gentle guidance, guiding me back to Him, to take comfort in Him.  And an assurance that He does, indeed, have this.  My Dad had told me this is the time blessings would come as I came into peace with Him.  And I know blessings come in many forms, but this revelation was a huge blessing.   God will reveal Himself, sometimes we just have to stop looking at all the things that distract us and look upon Him.

So let me ask you something my dear readers.  No need to answer me, though your welcome to comment if you wish.  If going through a storm, or trial, or tribulation brings you back closer to God, is it worth it?  If going through something reveals more of Him to you, is that worth the price, the suffering?  Ginger and I are still in the storm, but we get calms in the storm before the waves begin to get bigger and the rain gets heavier.  But that thunder, that glorious thunder is a reminder to me of God's voice who, with one word not only created the world but can quiet any storm.   Can you be at peace during the storm?  Why yes, you can, you can even sleep through one, just ask Jesus.....

Baa


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