The voice of God; what does it sound like?
The rumble of low thunder as a storm rolls in? The roar of a mighty lion claiming his territory? Maybe more like the sound of the ocean waves as they rush to the seashore? Perhaps, even like the faint echo from a mountain top as it bounces across a canyon, the soft coo of a morning dove or just as silent as the flutter of a butterfly's wings?
However He chooses to communicate with us, He does speak, just as surely as he spoke to the prophets in the old testament and to his disciples as he walked in flesh in the new testament. Priscilla Shirer says in her book, Discerning the voice of God, "one of the most common reasons we don't hear His voice is we simply are not listening".
Retirement was something I always thought of as a long way off in the future, a reward for the sacrifice of trading my time for dollars. The world I had surrounded myself with for so long began to fall away......like the peeling away of the layers of an onion or maybe it was more like the layers of a scab, healing a wound left by years of being tossed back and forth in the sea of the work world. What I didn't expect was that retirement would cause such a loss of identity that would take a while to find again. And as each layer fell away, the new world around me began to look differently than what I had imagined it would be.
From my blog "Life from the Heart" from October 2014 is a glimpse of the struggle to adjust to retirement........
The giddy feelings of freedom were refreshing during those first few months, but the giddiness, it seems, is wearing off. Frankly, the increasing feelings of freedom are somewhat overshadowed by the feeling of being completely trapped; trapped somewhere between what was and what is to come.
Not long ago Mondays were to be dreaded and faced with blinding determination to get past the start of the work week. Tuesdays were a little better, like the second sip of something bitter....it went down a little easier. Wednesdays were the half-way mark of the fast paced race to make it to the finish line. Thursdays were the big push to get it all done so Fridays could be glided through with ease into the freedom of the long awaited weekend that would, no doubt go faster than the speed of light right back into someone else’s timeline.
Days now come and go without the speed and stress of a few short months ago and are often undefined by any particular activities. Finding joy in this new found freedom is fleeting and finding a level of discipline to this new pace seems just a bit out of reach. In a season of discontent, she finds herself in the spin cycle of change, searching for something to hold on to…. a passion……a purpose.
*(some content taken from "and I shall have peace there by Margaret Roach)
*(some content taken from "and I shall have peace there by Margaret Roach)
When it’s time for a change, you can feel it in your bones, and there’s nothing like that feeling – the feeling of chasing something new. Excited, anxious, happy…maybe even a little scared…but those feelings drive us towards the starting line of something fresh. There comes a time when we want something more, and there comes a time when we need something more. It can build up slowly, or catch you by surprise. Either way, you know it’s time to skip to the next scene, press play, and let the magic of the unknown excite you. (Author unknown)
Since that day, 'His plans for me"(Jer 29:11) have changed my view from the quiet serenity of a little farm pond to the crashing waves of the Atlantic ocean. He has taught me that restoring my once stressed and work weary soul, can only be done by letting the layers covering the scabs of the past to drop away. He has whispered "Be Still" (Psalm 46:10) for which the original Hebrew root means "Let Go" as his plans for me unfold in His time.
I sat quietly this morning, drinking in the beauty of the view of my tropical world from the screened porch as well as my morning coffee and reading a devotional from Holley Gerth's "Do You Know You are Already Amazing".
The title, "You Don't Need to Do It All" was taken from the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10: 38-42. The attitudes of the sisters were totally different: Martha felt the need to do it all, while Mary felt she needed to give Jesus her all.
So many times we believe we have to do it all, give it our all and we are left worn out by the world. It's at that weakened time, the enemy of our souls sees us distracted and moves in to steal our peace, leaving us worried, upset and stressed out as we often experienced in the workplace. Even though I have found retirement to be a reward and a reprieve, a chance to restore my soul, the same reward can be found on a quiet Saturday morning looking out at the wonders God has created, whether the view is a mountain top, an ocean shore or simply the birds outside our window....a few minutes alone with our maker can set things right with our world.
As Holley Gerth points out, this story isn't really about the attitudes of the two sisters, it's the attitudes behind our choices. Both Martha and Mary loved and served Jesus, but on this day, only Mary wanted to enjoy Him. It's up to us to make a different, better choice. Scripture says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13)
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At the end of that first year, when the rush of life stopped rushing, when the noise of the busy world became quiet, when the mornings called me to sit before His majestic handiwork and listen, I heard the voice of God say.........
"restore your soul"
Since that day, 'His plans for me"(Jer 29:11) have changed my view from the quiet serenity of a little farm pond to the crashing waves of the Atlantic ocean. He has taught me that restoring my once stressed and work weary soul, can only be done by letting the layers covering the scabs of the past to drop away. He has whispered "Be Still" (Psalm 46:10) for which the original Hebrew root means "Let Go" as his plans for me unfold in His time.
I sat quietly this morning, drinking in the beauty of the view of my tropical world from the screened porch as well as my morning coffee and reading a devotional from Holley Gerth's "Do You Know You are Already Amazing".
The title, "You Don't Need to Do It All" was taken from the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10: 38-42. The attitudes of the sisters were totally different: Martha felt the need to do it all, while Mary felt she needed to give Jesus her all.
So many times we believe we have to do it all, give it our all and we are left worn out by the world. It's at that weakened time, the enemy of our souls sees us distracted and moves in to steal our peace, leaving us worried, upset and stressed out as we often experienced in the workplace. Even though I have found retirement to be a reward and a reprieve, a chance to restore my soul, the same reward can be found on a quiet Saturday morning looking out at the wonders God has created, whether the view is a mountain top, an ocean shore or simply the birds outside our window....a few minutes alone with our maker can set things right with our world.
As Holley Gerth points out, this story isn't really about the attitudes of the two sisters, it's the attitudes behind our choices. Both Martha and Mary loved and served Jesus, but on this day, only Mary wanted to enjoy Him. It's up to us to make a different, better choice. Scripture says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13)
