Week 4 Update!
What to say about this week? Hmm... Well Saturday, the Brick House Grannies (as we are known) did not leave the couch/the house until dinner. We watched movies, and it was an awesome relaxing day! I suppose though, that we should back up some though.
This week, our speaker was our DTS Director Cheyne (pronounced Shane), and we studied Hearing God's Voice. Out of the 4 weeks, this was the most impactful for me personally. Lectures really enforced within me that we, as Christians, can hear the voice of God; we just have to tune in to hear it. The story of how I ended up here in New Zealand right now involves hearing the voice of God, but to be very honest, I have very much struggled with the concept of hearing God. Part of it was my own doing, part of it wasn't. On one end, God would give me direction, but I would fail to seek out the details (this is something we discussed this week.). Instead, with my direction, I would make assumptions and make a mess of things, and then, I would question if I really heard God correctly. If God gives direction, you have to ask Him also to show you the details of how that works. However, on the other hand, I remember being told once that I couldn't hear from God. This one moment would end up having big consequences. It made God distant and un-inviting. (I loved what Femi said during one of his lectures- if God was an angry God ready to rain down His wrath and punishment, He would have already done it. We wouldn't have made it this far. Instead, God is beckoning you to know Him truly and fully.) This week confirmed what I already knew deep down- God is approachable, He does listen, and He does speak. I've watched it happen.
During moments of alone time with God throughout the week, He really transformed my understanding of Him. If I am very honest, I have viewed God as being angry with me and having conditional love. God will only love me if I am good and if I follow the rules and behave, but He is just sitting there waiting for me to mess up so that He can punish me. Tammy has spent 4 years trying to tell me that I'm wrong, trying to tell me that He is good and that He is sovereign and that He is loving. She told me this over and over and over- I can hear her words even now, but that's the problem, I only heard her words. I wasn't able to really listen; it took God speaking Himself for me to listen.
There was suddenly this revelation one night that God is really good. He only wants my good- He doesn't want to hurt me and cause me massive amount of misery. That's not in His character. And God is truly sovereign. This seems so simplistic. But have you thought about how God's sovereignty means that He is King, it means that He is on the throne and in control, and it means that no matter what the enemy does, everything has to fall under the Will of God because He. Is. Sovereign. His sovereignty brings power into my life because it means that I have no need to fear (Isaiah 41:10) because He is with me and has it all under control.
It has been an awesome week really. Had some not so fun moments, but they ended up being things that God was able to speak to me out of. I can't wait to see what God has in store for this week!
