Oh My Goodness, I love acting. I remember as a child wanting to be in every school play! I could barely stand the anticipation of being old enough to compete on the high school drama team. It was thrilling, even a rush, to take on a personality and present a story in a way that would bring emotion to the audience.
When I got to college I decided I wanted to work with drama and the arts in worship. The church I attend has an amazing children's program. They come up with tons of creative ways to teach kids about Christ! I bring all of this up because it relates to being limited on what I can and can't do, and how God uses limitations to teach me. This Easter the children's programming is doing a play called "Scooby Doo and the Mystery of Easter." Well, let it be known that I am a big fan of Scooby Doo, especially Daphne. So, when I was asked if I could be a part of the play, (an opportunity to act and worship by ministering to children) of course I said NO.
I felt crushed. It's been a hard week and I have been uninvolved at church in what feels like forever. I looked at my calendar to see if I could make the practices, and then I thought about how unpredictable my health is. Tears started to roll. My husband asked me if I could see anything that God may be doing in this situation. I did not want to explore this, but felt pressed to none the less.
As, I was thinking and kind of trying to pray (didn't really want to) the story of Elijah and God's gentle whisper came to my mind. You can read about it in 1Kings 19:1-18. Quick summary…God had just done an amazing miracle on Mt. Carmel and showed the prophets of Baal who was the one true God. But Elijah quickly got scared when he heard the queen was going to come after him and kill him. So he ran and hid. God came to Elijah and asked why he was hiding then he told him to stand on the mountain and watch for him. The wind came and tore the mountain apart, then an earthquake, and after that fire; God was not in any of them. But, after the fire, came a gentle whisper and Elijah felt the presence of God.
This reminded me of something that happened almost exactly a year ago. God gave me a gentle whisper and it has been a constant comfort to me. I had gone to a retreat for adoptive moms and was having time in prayer. I kept envisioning God's arms around me and when I opened my bible I turned to Isaiah and the scripture before me was 40:11, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." Almost immediately after this a woman came up to me, asked if I had a tattoo on my back (Yep, I do). She felt God telling her to let the woman with the hidden tattoo know that, "God sees her."
Today, as I started to feel sorry for myself I was reminded that God is in the gentle whisper. He has promised to carry me in his arms and that he sees me. No matter what place you are in, God sees you too. You will find him in the gentle whisper.
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