When I was growing up, I was taught there were different ways God spoke to us. Those moments in the Bible when He actually spoke out loud to and before his people, leaving no question for clarity. I was taught that He answers our prayers at times by speaking to our heart.
We have all likely experienced that nudge on our spirit when what some consider intuition leads us toward or away from a situation.
Sometimes God can speak to us through circumstance. I was told once that when God calls a change upon our lives the obstacles begin to become so obvious that short of being swallowed by a whale we clearly should change our course. And the greatest way God can speak to us, which has always intrigued me, is how He can speak to us through others. This epiphany continues to leave me touched by His love for us and the beauty of the inner weavings of His spirit throughout our lives.
Being one of those people who always needs a plan A, plan B, and even plan C, the reassurance that He does speak to us and hear our prayers has always given me an added layer of security. Of course there are days when doubt creeps in, but looking back I can firmly stand on my testimony that God has always led me. The moments I didn't listen are very clear in retrospect and the outcomes of those times simply cause me to shake my head to this day.
I never started my adult life with a career other than being a wife and mother of four. My writing was woven into those years as a way to bring in added income. It was not until my youngest two were in the fifth grade that I entered into the world of education. The plan was to help out with getting the four boys through high school and college. That plan was carried through as all four have surpassed this. Not that money isn't needed, especially in this current inflation, but we must always be open to the path planned before us.
Now, when my grandchildren began coming just a couple of years ago, this challenged me for the first time in many years. I was a stay at home mom when my babies were babies. And looking back it wasn't that tough. In fact, I have some of the most precious memories of my life during those sweet years of toddling through the grass picking flowers and playing in my garden.
For this reason I really began to pray about this. Did I need to stay and finish out those last couple of years in my career to retire or just throw in the towel now and step back into that glorious world of making mud pies and reading picture books on a past Grandmother's quilt in the sunshine on a breezy day? I prayed. And I then prayed some more.
And then came the Mardi Gras holiday when I happily agreed to keep the soon to be 2 year old each day to keep him out of daycare. And those magical moments began laughing to the Wiggle Giggle song and dancing to Bluey until Wednesday rolled around and the little tyke wasn't feeling so great. This quickly deteriorated into feeling terrible with a rash and sores in his mouth and the pediatrician said he had Hand, Foot Virus which probably explained my sore throat as well, and he would be fine just in a really bad mood for a couple of days. And foot stomping, hand clapping, head butting, hair pulling, and hiding to throw my favorite hairbrush in the toilet later I made it through the week, needing to soak for an hour in Epson salt.
This weekend, folding those tiny 2 year old clothes that had been drenched in tantrums of slinging milk and yogurt I couldn't believe all that energy came from those tiny little pants. And it all flooded back to me; the rest of those memories being home with toddlers. Yes, God continues to speak to us through his children, even the tiniest ones who have not yet been on this earth for two years because two more years of working is an A-OK idea. Wow! God bless the young mothers.
