Are You Listening To God’s Voice?
We hope that you enjoy this encouraging story that challenges us to be willing to notice when God is calling us to act, to step out in faith, and recognize the amazing changes He wants made in our lives when we surrender to Him.
Are You Listening To God’s Voice
My name is Ginny Henderson and my husband, Trent, and I were matched last month with a 2-year old girl through the Waiting Children Program. We started praying about adopting internationally almost 2 years ago, and like most of you it has been a wonderful process filled with prayers, tears, lots of fears, anticipation, encouragement, and at times disappointment when another month would go by with no phone call. My husband is a pastor and I am a part-time physical therapist, part-time mom of 2 boys, and part-time whatever the week calls for as a pastor's wife. I write a blog for our women's ministry and below was my entry the week we received our referral call. I hope it encourages those of you walking and praying through the process…
“This week Trent's sermon was from the book of Jonah and was focused on the process of hearing God's call, responding in obedience, and then seeing change in our hearts, character, and circumstances. I don't know about you, but this really hit home with me as I personalized this sermon and reflected on our adoption process. I wonder if some of you have heard God's calling on your life toward a specific direction and you are either trying to muster up the courage to step out in obedience or you have already done so and are waiting on the change.
When I think about this process, I picture 2 pieces of land separated by a shaky old bridge. The first piece of land is where you hear your calling. It is fine and you could stay there if you like. The bridge represents our steps of obedience. It is scary and takes a lot of faith to step out on, but on the other side is a land of great reward and change.
For Trent and I, I feel like we are reaching the last 1/3 of the bridge as we enter the next phase of adoption paperwork and waiting for travel. During a moment of frustration and fear the other day, I came across a great quote from Sarah Palin where she said, “Nothing worth having ever comes easy”. Who would have thought God would use a politician to encourage me in my walk…but He did. Hearing God's calling is the easy part if you know Him and know His voice. Stepping out in obedience takes faith in your ability to hear Him and in His promises. This is where so many of us get overwhelmed by our fears and the lies of the Enemy. But just hold on a little longer, because the change is so great and worth any ounce of faith you had to muster up to take the first step. For us, the land of change will be a little Chinese girl named Ruthie Mei and I am sure she will be worth every shaky step.”