The Best Advice

I’m writing again at a very late – or early – hour. A friend called me tonight – or last night – and we talked for a long time. It’s a friend I have very deep conversations with and so it was definitely a good thing, but my sleep is a good thing too, and so I’m not sure how long I will write now. It’s 1:06am, and I don’t want to be getting to sleep this late. My friend who called me is a night owl, but I’m not any more in the least, so it’s hard for me to balance my own need for sleep with the importance of the things we talk about. I know that it’s ok for me to take care of myself – that’s something that the Lord has been teaching me – but I also know that it’s ok sometimes to go outside of my usual routine. It’s finding the balance that’s important.

That’s where listening to God becomes so vital. If I don’t listen to Him and don’t stay connected to Him, I won’t be able to make the choices that are the best choices in any particular moment. I’ll make choices based on my own assumptions and beliefs and limited understanding, and that’s not going to bring me the outcome and resolution that is the best it could possibly be. There are times when God will tell me to go ahead and do something like stay talking to someone way past my bedtime, and there are other times He’ll tell me not to even pick up the phone because He knows I need my rest. There are times when He’ll tell me to bless someone with a gift or money or food, and there are other times that He’ll say to keep whatever it is for myself. God is not someone you can fit into a box and assume that every time He tells you about something it will be the same advice. He gives advice and direction based on each different and unique experience, and so you have to keep listening or you might miss out on a key point.

Two weeks ago I was on the subway on my way to teach a class, and I saw a woman singing and playing her guitar. The Lord told me loud and clear that I needed to put some money in the hat she was going to pass around, and even though I don’t feel like I have any extra these days, I went ahead and did what He told me to do. The feeling was so strong that I couldn’t ignore it, and I have no idea why He wanted me to bless her but He did. Who knows, she may have been emotionally at the end of her rope and my giving her a smile and five dollars and saying that her singing was beautiful could have meant the difference between life and death. We never know what a kindness can do for someone, it can bring them back to life and it can bring them closer to God.

It’s not everyone that I give to and not everything that I give away – I used to be like that – I’d give my last dollar without thinking about it at all, but that's something that He's been teaching me is important to check with Him. There have been times when the Lord has told me to go ahead and clean out my bank account for someone, and I had to do it because He said so. And when He tells you to do it, He’ll cover you and give back a hundred times over what you’ve given away, just make sure you check with Him first to make sure you’re moving on His direction and not your own.

There will be times when the Lord will ask you to bless someone, and there will be times when He’ll say to take care of yourself first. There are times when someone will even tell you that you should be blessing someone else, and if you’re listening to the Lord, you’ll know whether what they’re saying is coming from Him or if it’s not. In John 10:27, Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” There are times when all logic and everyone around you will tell you something, and if you’re not listening to His voice, you’ll listen to the other voices that are not His. Read His words carefully, “My sheep listen to my voice” – there is the listening; “I know them” – He knows each one of us intimately, and He will know just the sorts of things that will come to try to move us in a direction away from Him; “and they follow me” – in spite of everything that may – and will – come to move us in that other direction, the choice that is made is to follow Him.

I’ve gotten to love that image of sheep. It reminds me of years ago when I was a very little girl and somehow or other my mother and sister and I were invited to visit a farm. I somehow or other ended up in a sheep fold, and was surrounded by big white fluffy bleating sheep who may or may not have thought I was going to feed them. They weren’t mean or scary in any way, they were just big and fluffy and warm and heavier than I was, especially since there were several of them, all surrounding me as they were. As soon as the farmer came to rescue me by calling out to them to go in another direction, they moved very simply and peaceably and easily away. That is the way that we can move when we know His voice – listen for it, know that He knows you, and follow Him. He gives the best advice of anyone, because He knows you and knows the whole picture.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan