Discussion from Chapter 8

[This post is for a discussion topic that accompanies a Bible Study on the Power of a Praying Wife.]

On page 81. When Stormie and her husband took a trip to Greece. He had a fear that everything would fall apart if he didn’t go back home. The preacher traveling with him, came and spoke to him and they decided to stay for the duration of the trip. Stormie got pregnant in Jerusalem and had a baby on that Pastor’s Birthday. The impact of those details strike me more significantly when I read the actual pages of the book. But 2 things stand out to me about that story. (I encourage you to read it before proceeding, if you haven’t.)

The first was the significance of little details. The baby being conceived in Jerusalem and then being born on her Pastor’s Birthday, when he [the Pastor] was the one that spoke to them and convinced them to stay.  There have been countless times and situations, where “little things” felt so specific, “ironic” or “coincidental” to my situation, it was difficult to not believe that God was “personal”. Especially when it keeps happening.

The photo

For example: I read a passage in a sexual abuse study a few years ago that really spoke to me about the type of person that I wanted to be. It compared a tree to a woman and it began in me, a deep love of trees. I had little notes on my blog and in my home about them. The picture to the left was my favorite and it was the cover on my Facebook page to remind me. I had other pictures of trees that I thought were beautiful in various places. I decided that I really wanted a painting of a tree but couldn’t afford it. –And this picture,  my favorite, was so pixelated that it didn’t print well and the poster version looked so cheesy that it ruined it. I didn’t pray for it or tell anyone about my desire but I did think to myself, why can’t I just have a painting of that tree!  

The Painting

I am not kidding when I tell you that a year or so later I led a class on post abortion trauma and a few months after the class was over, one of the ladies that attended the class painted me a picture of that very tree that I loved so dearly. It was the perfect size, the perfect tree…. And it came from someone that was a friend but also from someone that represented a particular junction in my life. It was exactly what I wanted [but more] and this painting just couldn’t be bought.

Those details might not mean anything to anyone else but I was seeking the Lord in my life. I was really stepping out and challenging myself to do things that I believed, even though I had “no experience”. I wanted the Lord in every capacity that I could experience him and every time I get past myself and get my eyes on him, he surprises me in some personal way that convinces me, that he knows my name. (Is 43:1-2)

(Just like the experience that I shared with you about picking up the young man and then my husband “coincidentally” going to the conference.)

Let us not forget that his Word tells us in Psalm 37:4 Take delight IN THE LORD and [then] he will give you the desires of your heart.

Perhaps it was the same for Stormie and Michael. They were on a trip with people from church and their pastor. Was there a significant moment spiritually or in their faith on that trip that they were going for and the baby became a reminder of?

You might think that this is a ‘one off’ story but I am telling you, I have prayed for a little donkey to fill an Easter egg, I have wished for a bottle of salad dressing, even in my recent job transition there was a moment when I realized that I was so exhausted in my work that I couldn’t give the passion that I wanted to in sharing my message about Christ. I told him that I wanted to rearrange my life so that he could get more of it. It wasn’t until the moment that I realized it that I was then able to confess it or even know to ask for it. But when I did, then he began to move. –And you know what he else? He took something that I loved personally; and in another moment where I wasn’t even praying, I simply and casually said more as a rhetorical question to God, “Gosh, why can’t I have a job where I do this all day?!” and well…  it took a few months but he answered that too. When I was willing to change it all for him, he answered in a way that I couldn’t even see coming.

When YOU delight in the LORD, HE will give you the desires of your heart!

The second thing that stood out to me from the story on 81 was that he [Michael] felt like everything was going to fall apart if he didn’t go home.  Yet when he stayed just long enough, it all did fall apart but in a different kind of way.  –He had a baby. Nothing stays the same after a baby! Call it intuition, gut feeling, prompting of the holy spirit. But he had this feeling… and got it wrong.

Before I got pregnant with my first child, I remember standing in the kitchen talking to my mother and telling her that I couldn’t explain it but I had this unshakeable feeling that my life was about to change. Only to discover a few short months later that I was also going to have a baby. I had no way of knowing what that ‘change’ would look like. But it was such a strong feeling. My mother and I still talk about that! I was so nervous.

Or again with my job….

The last few years I have really gone through something spiritual with my job. I believe it wasn't necessarily about the job, it's just what the Lord used in my life to speak to and grow me. I still can’t figure out how to put all of the words to it. But I know that I had to go through every single piece of it. I know that it was a birthing process to something else. I know that if I didn’t rise up and do the things that were hard, then I couldn’t move to the next junction.

From the day that I took my promotion on the Help Desk, I told a friend that I couldn’t explain it but it felt like it was either the end of me at the bank or the end of me as I knew it. (Again, another one of those intuitions). Then suddenly, one day, I knew that I had to give my notice. I did it that day! I gave 6 months. I don’t know where that number came from. It just felt like the ‘right’ answer. And 6 months to giving that notice, I found out about or applied for the position that I am in now.

Now I am not just talking about feelings like “I feel like eating a bowl of ice cream ” or “I feel like taking the afternoon off”. It’s hard to describe but there is a usually a restlessness that accompanies these feelings. I can’t just sweep it off to the side and the only way that I know how to explain it is that it’s like “a deep spiritual knowing….” But without all of the details. 

So your question is: What about you? Have you ever experienced a situation like either the first or second?  Feel free to comment on both. If so, please take a moment and tell the group about it (video, blog or text is fine).  If you need to come back to it, ask the Lord to remind you of a situation to share but please come back to this post. If you haven’t experienced either, let’s pray about it. Whether it’s in personal details or in feelings or even in other methods; I pray that he speaks to you in a way that is personal to you. –a way that is unforgettable and undeniable!

And if you’re going through one of those restless places now but you’re just not sure… Feel free to share that with the group too, if you’re comfortable doing so. But most importantly, I’d ask you to take the time to journal, read your Bible and pray about it until the restlessness is over. Yes, some of those situations take months to resolve but concentrating your Bible time and journaling about it, has helped me recognize how God is talking to me and working in my life! Look for God at work in this situation!

Blessings to you!