Walking with God

I am currently rereading Walking with God, by John Eldredge.  He is definitely one of my favorite authors.  He is the author of Waking the Dead, which I love, and Wild at Heart, which I've been unable to get into - since it is written for men.  He also coauthored the book Captivating with his wife Stasi.  What an amazing book.  Obviously, I highly recommend John Eldredge.  This is not a complete list of his books, just the ones that I own.

Walking with God has been instrumental in my journey to hear God and trust His voice.  I've struggled for awhile with hearing Him.  I really didn't even know I should be listening for Him until about 5 years ago.  The first time I heard my new friend say, "God told me such and such," - I have to admit, I had my doubts.  The more I got to know this friend, and others like her, the more I realized,  Hmmm.... She doesn't seem to be crazy... and she definitely seems to believe that God does in fact talk to her.  Interesting...  So, I decided to give it a try.  I would occasionally pause to hear God or specifically ask Him a question.  There were even times when I thought it might be working.  But by and large, I doubted.  When I could quiet the roar of voices in my head down to one, I had no idea who it was that was still standing.  Is that me? Is that God?  Is that my guilt and shame (and essentially the enemy) that is so at work in my mind, due to all the license I had given to condemnation over the years?  What if it's not God I'm not about to start doing things, claiming God told me ANYTHING, unless I can know for certain that it IS indeed Him that is speaking.  I got discouraged. I basically gave up.  Every single time that I went to Him, I had the identical argument with me, myself and I, as well as anyone else that had made it into my head...  It was frustrating and annoying, so I eventually gave it up.  If I didn't read it in black and white somewhere between Genesis and Revelation or hear it directly from the trusted mouth of someone who I knew loved God and could be used for His purpose in my life, I wasn't trusting that God had anything to do with it.

Enter Walking with God.  You know how once you know something you can't not know it? Yeah.  It's like that.  As John says, "We have two options.  We can trudge through on our own, doing our best to figure it all out. Or, we can walk with God.  As in, learn to hear His voice.  Really. We can live life with God.  He offers to speak to us and guide us.  Every day.  It's an incredible offer.  To accept that offer is to enter into an adventure filled with joy and risk, transformation and breakthrough.  And more clarity than we ever thought possible."

Well, ain't that the truth?  Any clarity is more clarity than I thought possible.

So, I opted to go for it.  Give it a try.  Transformation?  Breakthrough?  Joy?  Yes, please.  Risk? Well, if it's a package deal, then I guess I'll take a side order or risk, too.  

And so it began.  My trysts with the Lord.  My morning meeting, so to speak.  We sit.  We chat.  I write it all down, because - I've had a baby and my memory seems to have permanently malfunctioned.  Sad to admit, but I even forget what God Himself tells me.  So I write it down.  Because here's the thing:  You don't desire to hear him, and then fight through figuring it out to then forget it.  No - it must be taken seriously.  And hearing God with out obedience?  Well, now that would be worse than not hearing Him at all.

Thanks for reading, friends.  Don't forget to meet with Him.