Learning to Listen

Lately, I am learning that my prayer life is very one-sided. I talk with the Lord very often, during my devotional time and throughout the day. I sing my praises and I voice my concerns and sometimes I just talk about what's going on in my heart and mind. I ask for wisdom and guidance often. But, I don't seem to be very good at listening. How can I seek guidance if I'm not willing to listen. I say I'm not willing to listen because when I receive an answer I often don't believe that it really is from God. I will pray and pray over something seeking an answer even though I keep getting the same answer each time. It is almost like I don't believe God will answer ME and yet I do believe he will because I'm praying about it to begin with.

Here's a recent example. I was asked to join my local MOPS Steering Team. I am going to be the Prayer and Care Coordinator. I am very honored to be in this position and I am excited and even scared about the upcoming MOPS year. One of the things I've needed to do this summer to prepare is to ask a couple of women to be my prayer warriors. They would be "undercover" and support me and other MOPS moms with their faithful prayers. Once I was informed by my predecessor that I needed a prayer team I started praying about who to ask. Very early on two ladies popped into my head. I'll call them A and B. I prayed and prayed about who to ask every day and every day A and B came to mind. I couldn't "shake" it. Once I realized what was going on I prayed that God would confirm even more that I needed to ask A and B. That went on for a couple of weeks. Finally, I was praying yesterday when God basically shook me and said, "Sarah, I've been telling you who I've chosen for you. ASK THEM!! T.O.D.A.Y!!!" With that I sat down and wrote an email to A and when I was out running errands I called B.

When I called B, she said that she had been thinking about me a lot over the last three weeks. That was about the time I've been praying about this. I asked her and she was thrilled about the opportunity. B was a definite 'yes.' I was so excited and encouraged. When I got home from running errands I had an email waiting on me. A said that she had a feeling that she was being called to do this but she was leaving it up to me to ask as a confirmation from God. Needless to say, she was a 'yes' too.

Wow! While I was praying for these women to be revealed to me God was preparing them for the job. I struggled over who to ask all the while God was making it very clear. I was in such shock that it went so perfectly. I know I shouldn't be in shock. Isn't that how God works?? I am so thankful for this experience because I have grown in my learning to listen.