listening...

where am i?  i am where God has led us...belton, tx.  yes, we are back in belton, but not back to the same place.  this is a different time and a different place...for us and for belton and umhb.  what will God do with us here?  how will we best be able to serve Him and those He loves so well?  i am waiting for the answer to these questions.

  

bill has found his work to put his hand to, but i am waiting.  and in that waiting i am learning.  i am growing.  i am breathing.  i know God's presence with me in the waiting as well as i know His presence with me in the knowing.  and for that i am truly grateful.  

He speaks to me in my times of reading His word.  He speaks to me in moments of silent prayer.  He speaks to me in the voice of my husband, in the phone call from a friend, in the hug of one i haven't been able to hug in a long time.  He also has spoken to me in the voice of the stranger, in the noisiness of our home here in main street, in the new relationships being built with new friends and neighbors.  God is constantly speaking.  are we constantly listening?

a journey through prayer

our congregation, has been on a journey through prayer for the past several weeks. bill has been leading us through a book by richard foster who has spent much of his life journeying to the center of who he is to find his way to God. at least that is how i perceive this holy quest. we are all journeying to the center of who we are and Whose we are into true, undistracted relationship with our Creator, Parent, Friend, Guide, Comforter, Sustainer, Hope. there is no journey like it.

i am so thankful for this time to put every heavenly thought into prayer and even some not so heavenly thoughts. prayer, for me has been what i gravitate towards in this life. i find my connection with God to be what gets me through the challenges of this life. this connection makes the joys and straight paths even sweeter. i cannot look back over my life and ever see a time when i was walking alone on my path. it is kind of like the footprints in the sand poem, God has carried me when i could not walk any longer.

many who do not truly know me may not know about these times, but believe me they have been there and at times are there now. God is faithful. He gathers me up in His loving arms and carries me along until i am rested in Him and can continue on the journey beside Him. for this i am so very grateful.

some of the ways i pray that touch my heart the most are

• praising God in His creation, listening to the sounds of life and thanking Him for what i know to be gifts from Him.

• the silence that we enjoy during our worship service gives me a bit of time to be in communion with God and our church family at the same time. i like that.

• praying through journeling is one that has been something i have done for many years. i have always written my journals to God. i like being able to go back through them and see how my journey has progressed. see where i have grown, see where God has sustained me, see where God has answered prayer.
  

• praying for others is a big part of my praying. i truly love being able to lift others before our loving God Who knows each one and knows what they need more than i do. God loves us all so much!

• i also am learning how to center down, finding that place where i let all my thoughts of this life fade away and simply enjoy being in God's presence.

i am truly blessed to have been a part of this study and feel ready to continue into this time of Lent and then into Holy Week. God is busy all around us and i am thankful He is letting me see where He is working and growing us at ubc. i am also thankful to see how He is working in the lives of many of my friends all around the world. i am truly blessed.

thank You, Abba, for your great love, mercy and grace. amen.