Whispers.

For the last year I have been trying to listen to God in a different way. I listened to whispers.

God told Elijah to go stand on a mountain because he was about to pass by.

"Then a great powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out a stood at the mouth of the cave." 1 Kings 19:11-13

It was the in the whisper that God showed up. It was the whisper that let Elijah know God was there. And when he went to the mouth of the cave, it was then that God told him what to do next.

I decided one day that every time something popped into my mind, I would think about it and pray about it. So I did. After a while of that I felt like God was telling me that when someone came to my mind, it was from him, and it meant I needed to pray for them. So I did. From a memory popping up, or wondering about how someone was doing, I knew that these thoughts came to my mind for a reason so I started praying for these people as they came to my mind.

Then one day, I heard the whisper, "Call Laura". I was in the middle of dusting my house, but stopped what I was doing, picked up the phone, and called her. When we talked nothing major was going on in her life, but we both left the conversation encouraged and lifted up. I was still glad I listened to that whisper.

After that phone call to Laura, I heard this whisper many times. Call this person, call that person, email this person, text this one. At first I was nervous because it kind of sounds ridiculous, "Hey, you've been on my mind and heart...what's going on?".... But after a few months of this, I started realizing that when these people came to my mind, something was going on in their life, and they needed my prayer. I tried to not let names just pop into my mind on a whim. I tried to not to focus on the doubt and uncertainty but instead focused on helping that person battle their spiritual warfare in the form of prayer and encouraging words. 

Here are just a few examples of these phone calls:

One day a friend was really on my heart. I couldn't shake it. I kept praying, and she was still on my heart. So I called her. Her response: "I was just praying and asking God to help me." She had just moved to the area and was having a hard time leaving her friends behind in the city she moved from, having a hard time moving forward and adjusting to her new life here. She told me how thankful she was for my phone call. I am pretty confident that that phone call gave her a sense that everything was going to be ok.

There was a girl that had babysat for us a couple of times. I felt this tug on my heart to talk to her about a mentor relationship. I thought this was crazy! I had only had contact with her a couple of times and she was getting ready to graduate and go away to college. I kept praying about it, and the idea of a college mentor/encourager came to mind. So I asked this girl out to coffee, and brought up the idea to her, sure that she would laugh in my face. Her response: "I have been praying for someone to come into my life a little bit a head of me to help mentor me." I'm so glad I listened to that whisper. I've had the honor of lifting this girl up in prayer and it has been an amazing experience.

Another day a friend popped into my mind so I spend a lot of my day praying for her. When the feeling that something was wrong wouldn't shake, I called her and left a message on her voicemail. "This is Chandra. You are on my heart big time today. What's going on? What's wrong? I'm lifting you up in prayer." I found out a week later that my friend had miscarried. When I got the chance to talk to her, she said that the day I called her was the day they found out the baby had no heartbeat. And she wasn't ready to call me back to talk that day (completely understandable!). But I'm confident that by me listening to that whisper, she was given a bit of peace and comfort in a very hard situation.

There was a day this week when I didn't listen to the whisper. My friend kept popping into my mind. I kept praying, and the whisper told me to call her. But it was Cooper's birthday and I just wanted to focus on him that day. So I didn't call. Later that night I got an email from her saying that her son was having surgery the next day and she was getting anxious and nervous about it. I was convicted right there. I had not followed through on what I knew I should do. My friend could have benefitted from a talk and some prayer from me.

What whispers do you hear from God? Do you just let thoughts pop into your mind without much thought on them?

I encourage you to really focus on and think about the things that pop into your mind. Ask God to help you discern what he needs you to do with that name, and ask him for the courage to go through with it.