Do You Hear What I Hear?

Last week, I had been toiling with the thought of what to do about our attendance at Life Group.  I knew that our Life Group had been considering changing the night from Thursday to Tuesday, due to inconsistent attendance by the members.  Of course, switching to Tuesdays, for us, would leave Jeremy out of the possibility of ever attending, except perhaps to sneak in for a few short minutes on his dinner break from work.  However, I felt it pressed on my heart to visit with one of our Life Group Leaders, Jennifer, to express that Tuesdays may, in fact, be better for us as a family because I would be more likely to attend consistently on that night, whereas Thursdays are continuously hit or miss (mostly miss) for us.  Amazingly, when I expressed this logic to Jennifer, she reported that this was confirmation and an answered prayer, as she had also felt a strong urging to invite me to attend without Jeremy (not as a matter of excluding him, but as a matter of at least getting some consistent involvement across-the-board, and Jeremy can attend when possible, and he can be plugged-in through other means, such as the men's social gatherings, etc.), but she had prayed for clarity in the decision of whether or not to switch to Tuesdays.  See, we were the only family holding them back from switching to Tuesday nights.

So, what is my point in sharing this information?  Well, by waiting and listening, and then obeying God, by telling Jennifer my thoughts on switching to Tuesdays, I served as an avenue for God to give Jennifer that confirmation and clarity for which she had prayed.  What if I had ignored those feelings, or kept them to myself?  Then God could not have used me as a channel to answer her prayers.  Which leads me to wonder, how often does God, in fact, use us to answer someone else's prayers?  I have a friend going through a divorce, after 17 years of marriage, and they have 2 children, and every now and then, I just have this little sneaky thought in the back of my mind to send her an encouraging word.  And, then, the response is like, "Oh my gosh, you don't know how badly I needed that!"  So, what if those sneaky little thoughts in the back of my brain are, in FACT, the Holy Spirit, nudging me forth, and using ME...li'l ol' ME...as a means to answer someone's prayer for comfort and encouragement??  What kind of privilege and honor is that?!?!

Obedience to a Call, for me, is not just an obedience to write.  It's an obedience to listen and heed the Holy Spirit when it presses on my heart.  Who knows!  By doing one seemingly simple act, you may, in fact, be representing the hands and feet of Jesus to someone in need.  God absolutely uses us if we only obey His nudges.  God may be using you and your gifts to move someone's mountain without you even realizing it!  What a blessed revelation!  I think I'll start paying closer attention to the sneaky little voice in the back of my head :)