One of the challenges issued from Melissa Taylor's online Bible study (OBS) this week was to sit in silence and listen for God.
Silence..huh..there's a novel idea. I don't know about your world but my world is full of noise. My 6 year old has been learning new songs at school and she loves to sing them. All. The. Time. I am pretty sure that sometimes she does not even know she is singing, or humming, or whistling. But unless she is asleep there is constantly noise coming from that child. Now don't get me wrong I love to hear her voice and I love that she is learning and that she is happy. But for the sake of sanity please just a few minutes of quiet. At work there is constant noise. Patient's with a plethera of conditions that they want me to fix. Nurses and other staff with questions. If you listen to the news there is no silence at all regarding the state of our nation or our world. So where do I find silence?
Before I got married I had "quiet times" with God anytime I wanted. Most of the time before bed and sometimes when I got up as well. I was 26 and well established with my quiet time routine...then I got married. Trying to find time alone as a newlywed was difficult. A few years later when we added our first child quiet alone time was even harder to find. I found as my days got busier and louder that I needed my alone time with God even more. I have never been a morning person. I worked night shift for years because I always said it was easier to see 5 AM at the end of my day than at the beginning. But I found that 5 AM is the only time I can get alone with God. So I set my alarm (okay, okay, I hit the snooze til 5:30) and I get up, make my coffee and settle down to hear from God.
In the past 6 months I have been convicted about telling people I would pray for them but not actually following through. So I started a prayer journal. I don't pray for each person every day but usually do get them at least once a week. I pray and ask God who else needs to be on the list. I spend time reading God's Word and asking Him to speak to me. Some days I spend more time than others listening and praying. But in a world that is spinning so rapidly (and that seems to be spinning out of control some days), that early morning time when the rest of the house is sleeping is the quiet start to my day. I depend on it. How you find quiet times in the midst of your craziness? If you don't spend time alone with God I challenge you to start.
