I was on the phone last night with my oldest daughter Rainie. She is expecting her second child, raising our beautiful little granddaughter Gwen, and holding down part time work while Ryan is out of town on a multi-month commitment. Even though they talk, she was feeling the pressure of trying to manage their family without his presence. Today seemed worse than most as we talked. As we discussed the situation, I related to her what it had been like for our family when my I was deployed with the military in her youth, as well as my mom’s long periods of time alone when dad was on long search and rescue missions in the Coast Guard. The woman who stands out, though, was her great-grandmother who had to raise four young children during the depression by herself. It seems as if the women in our family have been positioned to develop their internal strength through periods of time like this. I encouraged her because I am proud of how she has handled herself so far.
I also reminded Rainie of how much God loved her. She is an unusual young woman with a gift similar to her grandmother – dreams. In all my travels, I have only met a few people that God speaks to through dreams the way he does with her or did with my mom. Over the years we have had dozens of conversations about what God was communicating during critical periods of her life. I learned, for one very intense period after her grandmothers and her previous husband’s death, to start praying for insight when I saw her phone number on mine. “Father give us insight into your heart,” was always our request because we always knew He was telling us something. After reminding her of this special gift God used to communicate with her, I could hear a difference in her voice. I knew she was going to be ok for today. But like Chuck Swindol says: “Life is so daily.” I’m sure we will have this conversation again!
Each of you are gifted in a different way. God may not speak to you in dreams, but there is always a preferred method of communication. He has a way of getting His message across to all of us. With Tracy it is a deep sense of knowing what is right or wrong and an overwhelming drive to follow those convictions. For me it is more a matter of which doors God closes rather than just entering an open door. I did that with disastrous results for years. He helped me see the necessity of weighing the issues before crossing a threshold. Ask first, seek knowledge second and only after you have done that should you knock or try to push through. In Job 37: 5a, 7 it says this: “God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways . . . so that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor.” In this verse God is telling Job, as He reprimands him, that He will communicate and show Himself to every man in different and unusual ways. However, with each of us it will probably be different.
Kids, take a few moments and consider how God communicates with you. Take the time to write it down when you feel you have received insight, regardless of when or where. God may talk with you more through the scriptures or your friends. Identify how He does it most often so you have a “favorite way” of hearing him. Then when you need him, you’ll have a direction and focus. Try it, you’ll like it!
Love Dad