Me and You

I've been doing some thinking about you and about myself.  I have been struggling.  Before I spoke at the women's retreat in January, I began seeing posts on facebook about coffee.  Over and over again, it was things about coffee.  Coffee will be in heaven.  Blahdy blahdy blah.  Coffee.  I don't drink coffee.  And honestly, I don't want to start drinking coffee.  I am just too sensitive to caffeine.

Our women's retreat was about The Sacred Echo, basically about how God will use repeated messages and things to help you find your way and His plan for you.  So after the women's retreat, I was poking around the blog world.  Pastor Calvin had mentioned a blog post on the Valleydale blog about journaling.  I wanted to find out more about this blog post, and I found that the website was Coffee with Christ.  Once I saw the blog name, I knew I was to contact the blog manager, Nikol, as coffee had been echoed over and over to me.

I began to think maybe I was to write for her blog or something.  Then I thought maybe I was to write and speak with her.  And honestly I have no idea what our partnership is to look like at this point, only that God purposefully placed us together.  In the mean time, He began speaking to me and telling me that I was to begin in ministry - to write (which I was already doing here) and to speak (which I would prefer not to do.)

His call to begin doing all of these things was confirmed through Scripture He would bring to my mind and through our David bible study.   But I began struggling - surely not me, Lord!  I think I was my own worst enemy.  Old insecurities popped back up.

Tonight I am embracing the call.  Earlier tonight we went to Chuy's for my birthday.  I looked up and saw this:

 

The round picture in the upper left looked like an optical illusion like this:

When I first I looked at the restaurant photo, it looked like a red blob, but as I looked further I saw that it was really a photo of a woman.  As I stared at it, God brought to mind this verse:

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12

God said to me, "Jamie, you look at yourself from a distance and you see a blob.  You are unable to see what I see.  I see a beautiful woman who I have created with a special purpose and plan.  My call for you is real.  I see the real you that you are unable to see."

And as we drove home my husband looked at me and told me that I grow more beautiful with age.  I don't feel more beautiful today than I did yesterday, but not only did I know my husband was speaking something he believes to be true, but words that God believes to be true, because I am more mature today in my walk with Christ than I was yesterday, and Christ finds that beautiful.  

My friend, if you struggle with God's plan for you - He sees you as you are, as He fully created you, and He sees every bit of what you are capable of.  You may see a blob and He sees something complete and beautiful.

Nikol's blog is about relationship and hearing God speak.  She meets with Christ by sitting down and having coffee with Him each morning.  I found this idea so simplistic, but it has reminded me that I take my relationship with God for granted in some ways.  God and I are old friends, and I have heard His voice in many ways at many different times in my life.  When I write my blog posts, I am taking you into the ways that God works to speak to me.  Through nature, through emails, through dreams, through the TV, through children, through people, through His Word hidden in my heart, through a picture on the wall.  Everything is usable for God to speak to You.  The problem is most of us do not listen.  If at the end of my days I am only recognized for listening, then listening to His precious voice will have been a truly great thing.  It is because of Nikol's simple idea that I have been made to recognize that many of you do not truly hear God's voice.  You can know all about God, but until you begin to meet with Him each day and listen to Him, I promise you, you are missing out on something you are going to want, more than just knowledge of God, but a genuine relationship with the Highest of all Beings - the One True God - the Holy of Holies.  God does not speak to each one of us in the same way.  No, He speaks to us as we are uniquely made.  He uses a variety of ways and techniques.

Friend, what is God trying to say to you today?  Stop, Look, and Listen.  He is speaking.