Listen

Last summer, while awaiting the birth of my first grandchild, I spent an hour every afternoon sitting in the conservatory (better light) working on a cross-stitch for this child. As I worked, I listened. I listened in the silence to what God wanted to say about this baby. I wrote down the words or phrases that came to mind and after Felicity was born, I sewed her name and birth date on it and printed out the words God had given me, and gave it to her.

She will be a year old in another month, and this afternoon I looked at the copy I kept of God’s words about this amazing wee miracle. I was astonished at how accurate they are. Why was I astonished? God knew this life before he created her in the womb, and he has loved her forever. 

I don’t believe that Felicity is any better a person because I joined in with God’s thinking about her. But it thrills me to know that he shared his secrets with me before she was even born. And that encourages my faith to keep on listening, keep on believing, keep on asking, keep on expecting. 

God is our loving Father who delights to work with us in this world. He invites us to partner with him but so often we lack the faith and courage to believe that what we feel in our hearts or think in our minds can actually be given to us from our heavenly Father. 

I’m excited again by the possibilities of partnering with our divine King to bring his Kingdom here to earth. And rather than rushing off to do even more great stuff, I hope I’ve got the message: it’s more effective to sit down and listen and agree with His plans.

Wow.