does God still talk?

does God still talk?

that is what we are asking our kiddos.

what do YOU think?

i think that over the last 2 years i've become so desperate to HEAR HIM talk that I began assuming everyone else was too. as we comfort people around us that are going through all kinds of trials, i'm finding that's not the case.

the other day God put it on my heart to gather 3 teenage girls together and talk about God. not just talk about Him but talk TO Him and listen for what He said back. as usual, one of their comments made me smile so big b/c kids just have a way of saying what most adults don't have the balls to say.

after 20 minutes of just being quiet and listening for God one of them says, "julz, I don't know how to hear His voice." she didn't try to mask it with all the other things she could have said, she just said the truth. in that moment, i realized THIS is exactly how most people feel and exactly how i felt a couple years ago.

can i just tell you that hearing God's voice has practically become like catching my breath. it has so become my source of strength that i get scared imaging what it would be like to not hear Him. didn't David talk about that? i'm going to look up those verses and insert them here.

well, normally i would never write about this for fear that it would sound prideful like, "of course I hear the Lord, DONT YOU?!!?!" oh man, if that is AT ALL what you are sensing, please hear me out.

everyday i still have the internal struggle of deciphering, 'was that ME?', 'was that dream the 5 oreos i inhaled before bed?', or was that God? really i DO! but if you can relate at all to where i was 2 years ago, or where this beautiful honest teen was- i want to tell you what i believe helped me jump into the exhilarating, adventurous, life giving waters that ARE my strength.

i began making a conscious choice to not just believe in my HEAD but also in my ACTIONS the verses that say....

John 10:. ³The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice.

so i guess i made a choice...."Lord, i know who You are in my head, but i'm ready to not only know you in my heart but to hear and feel You leading me thru this CRAZY thing called life. i know i'll mess up, i know i'll get off track, but talk to me, teach me Your voice so that i will be more familiar with YOUR voice than any other voice."

wish i could tell you i'm batting 100 but yeah, not so. honestly, what i'm practicing now is learning how to hear Him and then also hear what to do with what He says. when i first started hearing Him, i got so excited i ran all over the place telling anyone that walked by me. now i'm learning that He also wants to show us what to do with what He tells us. whew!

in that honest teen, the beauty that struck me was, "i WANT to hear HIM." i think that has to be first. however, there are people like paul in the Bible that DIDN'T want to hear Him and had no choice but to accept that He is alive and talking. but for most of us, our stinkin world is SOOOOO loud and busy that to hear Him is almost impossible!

the other night we sat down with all the kiddos and i had recorded several different voices saying the same message. on top of the recordings, i also had a tv going, a radio playing, and obviously THEY were making their own fair share of noise. so the first test was, who is voice #1? mind u the kids were talking, the tv was on, and the radio was cranked. as they realized the challenge they were like, 'Turn off the tv, turn down the radio, everyone SHUT UP!' ha.

how true is that for us? FOR ME!

if i desperately want to know what God is telling me to do, do i shut down all those things or expect Him to blast them all out?! this is a daily challenge for me.

let me just close this with what happened to me yesterday.

all day long, i had been wanting to have some time alone and quiet with God but as usual the demands of our world kept crashing in and taking precedent. finally, about 1 in the afternoon, isaiah was sleeping, bella was playing dollhouse, and i had a few minutes before i had to leave to pick up ethan. the laundry was undone, the dishes were everywhere and i was unshowered. i was rushing across the living room when all of the sudden i thought, "stop the insanity! if i dont just STOP, i'll NEVER have time!"

so i was standing in the middle of the living room and my next thought was, "Ok, i'll turn on some music to get 'in the mode' even that was yet another thing to do, find my ipod, pick a song, etc.

so i resisted and just started talking. 'God i NEED You. more than anything i NEED YOU." it's not always like this but yesterday it was, a wave of emotion barreled over me. it had NO guilt in it, no 'yeah, boy, do u ever need ME!', no 'well, do the right thing and then I'm here" it was just, "I'm HERE JULIE!"

honestly, i couldnt even begin to tell you all the things that my heart heard and felt in the next 10 minutes (yeah, i didn't go too deep, ha) but MAN, did it change the rest of my day! it was the reminder that Someone much greater lives outside of our sphere and is available to us 24/7/365. that all i have to do is still myself and listen.

do u crave that? if not crave, do u ever find yourself wishing u had the $ for counseling? man, i know i do! guys, the ultimate Counselor is at your disposal all the time. you don't have to be living right to hear Him. you don't have to 'know how' to hear Him. you just need to recognize your want and be still. i promise, He does the rest. and the cool thing is that He knows each of us in our uniqueness SO well that we each hear Him different. i get pictures. my friend gets verses. another friend usually hears one word over and over. my point is, just begin practicing.

it is a 'fix' you'll never be able to live without again.

i promise.