Learning to Hear Yes After Saying No

One of the things I am enjoying about What Happens When Women Say Yes to God is that Lysa TerKeurst gives excellent guidelines for discerning if the message I am hearing is truly God's direction or if it's some random thought I've had that I'm considering acting upon.  Her five question filter is this:

1.  Is your thought scripturally sound?
2.  Is it consistent with what God has revealed about himself to us?
3.  Is the message confirmed through other avenues such as a message heard at church or Bible study?
4.  Is it something beyond me personally to accomplish? (Is it something God's divine help is necessary to accomplish?)
5.  Is what you are considering pleasing to God?

As I digest the first few chapters of this book, I am definitely more alert to tuggings that lead me to action... or should lead me to action.  It's those times that I don't act that cause me to pause and consider a missed opportunity.  About a week ago, I stopped at the pharmacy and a woman was outside the store asking for money.  I assessed her both as I entered the store and as I left.  I typically do not give money to people in this situation but will usually ask if I can buy the person dinner or help in some way, but that night I didn't.  I caught myself looking at her age, her hair, her clothes and discriminating her need by my own set of values.  God nudged me and I ignored it.  Then because it was late and I wouldn't have time to cook dinner, I picked up dinner.  Still I was encouraged in my heart to buy her dinner and go back by the store.  I still didn't do it.  Matthew 25:45 is nagging at me still.

A few days later, Dorothy's Place (a kitchen that serves meals to the homeless), put out a plea for 70 cooked turkeys.  They were anticipating feeding 1,000 homeless people for Thanksgiving Dinner and were woefully short for many items they needed.  A friend posted the plea on Facebook, and I passed it along.  I knew I'd help, but was thinking I'd buy some pies and juice.  I was having 30 people for Thanksgiving and couldn't think past our own bird.  I felt God was calling me to help, but I kept finding ways to organize others around the need: sharing the plea with co-workers and and church family hoping someone would step up.  Finally, God got through to me... STOP trying to find a way to involve everyone else and do something yourself!  I called our pastor and asked for permission to use the church's ovens and I committed to roasting 3 turkeys Thanksgiving morning on top of the 2 turkeys we cooked for our family.  Thankfully, my sweet husband felt led to help me and my parents kindly kept our children.  We prepared our house for our 30 on Wednesday.  We got up at 4:30 a.m. and went to the church and cooked 3 turkeys for Dorothy's Place.  We had such a wonderful time being alone together.  Jeff pulled up Big Band music on his Droid and we danced.  When we had enough of that, we played cribbage.  The turkeys were fabulous.  We dropped them off at 10 a.m. and headed home to tend to our own dinner.

I have to say it was the very best Thanksgiving I've ever enjoyed.  Our daughter struggles with bipolar disorder... she was calm, joyful and helpful.  Family that hadn't celebrated Thanksgiving with us in years joined us.  The food was fabulous.  There were no pre-event squabbles with Jeff.  We were truly blessed this past Thanksgiving. 

I've said "no" to God a few times, but I'm thankful for those "noes".  It makes the "yes" so much easier to accept and enjoy.

May you be truly blessed this holiday season as your own still, small voice encourages you to do great things!

love,
Aimee

two friends take an adventure

Being an Air Force brat, I didn't move around quite as much as many of my friends did, but our life was often measured in 3 and 4 year increments.  Thanks to Facebook, the world suddenly became a much smaller place and I suddenly can see the faces of friends I knew in Germany and England.  One such friend, Kenreanne Fookes Davis, has inspired me by her Facebook posts that reflect a heart sold out to Christ.  It lead me to purchase a book that she recommended: What Happens When Women Say Yes to God.  We've agreed to share our experiences with this book together on this blog.  I'm not much of a blogger, and neither is she, so bear with us as we figure this thing out.

May God use our studies to His glory!

Aimee