Following the Call of God

Listening for and waiting on God has never been easy for me.  I'm the kind of gal who likes to be in charge.  I like all my ducks in a row, marching to my beat, obedient to my voice, and quietly submissive to my leading.  Poor little ducks!  This past year has been a time for me to look critically at my desire to control the details of my life.  I have had to confess that I haven't been very good at relinquishing that control to God.  But praise the Lord, He is faithful to forgive when we come to Him in repentance and ask for His strength to change.

It seems to me, we humans spend a lot of time waiting.  We wait in the grocery line, we wait at the doctor's office, we wait "on hold" on the telephone, we wait for our dinner at the restaurant.  Most of the time, we do those things with little, if any, complaining.  We just seem to accept that waiting is a normal part of daily life on this planet.  So, why is it we rail so vehemently when asked to wait on God?  When we pray, we seem to expect an immediate answer that is in line with our desires.  If God does not act within moments, or if He chooses a different answer than we had anticipated, we're quick to mumble and lose faith.  We will wait patiently for a total stranger to answer our phone call, but we demand instantaneous attention from the God of all creation.  How strange is that?!

For this past year I have been waiting on God to reveal His plan for my life.  In obedience to His call, I entered into full-time seminary studies at a time in life when my friends and acquaintances are entering into leisurely retirement status.  This semester I also enrolled in a Biblical counseling training institute to learn the practice of nouthetic counseling.  For clarification's sake, "nouthetic counseling is the wise application of biblical truth to persons who have experienced a breakdown of the normal, sanctification process, in order to remove the various causes of the breakdown while, at the same time, endeavoring to help them seize upon the breakdown as an opportunity to achieve greater spiritual growth." (an excerpt taken from a Jan. 17, 2009 posting on the website for the Institute For Nourthetic Studies)  To date, I have no idea where all this education and training will take me.  I have had to walk in simple faith through each day, each semester believing that my obedience to God will result in His reward.  How that will be manifested in my life is yet to be seen.

I suspect that there are many others out there who have felt the call of the Holy Spirit upon their hearts and who have questioned how or why such a call would come to them.  Perhaps they are in advanced years, maybe their health is a concern, finances might be in question... whatever the reason(s) may be, they have chosen to ignore that still, small voice.  My friends, we can only ignore God for a brief period of time without suffering the unrest and troubled spirit that accompanies such a choice.

In his article "Following the Call of God,"  author Mark Hiehle points to some of the benchmarks that characterize God's call upon our lives:
1.  God uses ordinary people, and He calls them in the midst of the ordinary duties of life.
2.  God moves ahead of us, preparing the way.
3.  God starts with a vision.
4.  God will speak personally to you.
5.  God will confirm the call.
6.  Others will oppose the call.  (And you may be certain of that!!  My comment, not Hiehle's.) 
7.  God wants you to follow the call.
8.  Go all out in following God's call, for no one can answer that call but you.

If you have felt the call of God upon your heart, but you have ignored that voice, it may be because you do not choose to wait on Him to reveal His full plan for your life.  You want all the answers now.  You want to clearly see the road map and know the precise direction you will take to get to a pre-disclosed destination.  Yet, if we knew all those things, we would not be stepping out in faith, we would simply be following a plan... our plan, not necessarily God's plan.  Stepping out in faith is not an easy thing to do.  Remember what my dear friend, Norma, has told me:  "Faith is like a muscle- it only grows stronger when we exercise it."   Now may be the time you have been called to exercise your faith muscle like never before.  Rest assured, however, that the rewards will far exceed the demands.

Make the choice today to follow the call that God has placed upon your heart.  Trust Him to be who He says He is and to do what He promises He will do.  I guarantee you won't be disappointed in the results.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."  (Proverbs 3:5-6)