Hearing God in Daily Life

"And your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it'... "
(Isaiah 30:21 AMP)

A few month's ago, we talked about whether or not we can really know God's will for our lives. Well, I want to share a special testimony with you today about just that. 

Now, I sometimes hesitate to share personal testimonies because some people mistake them them for boasting.  But, if we never hear testimonies of real life Christians living for God in the 21st century, how will we learn practical ways to live out God's Word in our own lives? 
So, here we go...

For years, people have been telling my husband and I to buy a home, "The market is perfect," they exclaimed, "if you don't buy now you'll regret it!"

All of our friends and family were buying their own homes, and we were stuck renting. But, in our hearts we just knew it  wasn't our season to buy.

Still, the warnings kept coming,"You're throwing away your money!" Succumbing to the pressure,  we began to doubt if we were really hearing from God.  Doesn't His Word say He'll provide for us? Won't He give us the desires of our hearts? Our hearts desire a house! 

We almost let our reasoning minds get the best of us a few years back. We tried to ignore what we sensed in our hearts and stepped out in our own will to start the buying process.  

Something just didn't feel 'right.' We quickly recognized that we didn't have God's peace about it. So, going against family and friends, we followed that still small voice within both of us, and backed out. 

Well, one night this past May I couldn't sleep. Over my years of walking with the Lord I've learned, if I can't sleep, to ask the Holy Spirit if I'm still awake for some reason in particular. Is there something He wants me to do? Something important He wants to talk to me about?

This particular night there actually was something, "I want you to get up and look up prices for town homes." 

It seemed so random. Confused, I replied, "Lord, we can't afford to buy a house right now.  Besides, it's not even our season." 

What did God do with my questioning? You'd think He'd get mad and say forget it. But His grace is astounding! He simply ignored me and repeated Himself, "Get up and go look up town homes. "

When my feet hit the floor and I walked over to my laptop, that was the first step of faith in our Spirit led journey to receiving the home God had in store for our family.  

It's not the biggest place in the world, but it fulfills every need that we had in a home.  We know in our hearts that we're in the house that God has chosen for us, not one we've chosen for ourselves. How do we know that? Because of how we chose our home.
We searched and prayed...and prayed...and prayed some more. We knew we weren't searching for just any home. If God had told us to begin looking, then He already had the house picked out for us. Our goal was not to pick the house we thought was perfect, but to identify the home our Heavenly Father had already hand picked.

We knew when we'd found "the one" because my husband and I both had God's 'peace' as soon as we walked in. We had a sense of 'knowing' deep down that we were where we were supposed to be. 

We ended up purchasing the home for over $50,000 cheaper than what it sold for just six years ago. Even in the current market, the appraiser valued the home at $20,000 MORE than we actually paid.  

You may wonder, why did God give our family such favor? Are we special? No! God is no respecter of persons. We are NOT special... Just obedient to His voice. 

Just like any parent, God has special gifts that He prepares for His children. It took three years of being on the market for the price of our home to come down to the price we paid for it. It started off $25,000 more. But, God waited until He brought it down to our price point, then He prompted us to begin looking for it. 

If we would have stepped out on our own to purchase a home a few years ago, we wouldn't have gotten nearly as nice of a house because we wouldn't have had God's favor. But, most importantly, if we would have tried to buy back then, we would have been in our will, NOT in God's.

And what if I would have turned over and went back to sleep the night God was trying to speak to me? What if I would have written it off as just my overactive imagination?  We'd still be paying $30 MORE a month to rent an apartment literally half the size of our new home!

Now, that wouldn't have meant that God did not prepare our new home  for us. But, we would have never received the gift.

How many gifts from God do we miss out on because we miss His voice? I hate to even imagine!

God wants to direct and lead all aspects of our lives. He has amazing things in store for each of us. But, if we can't recognize His leadings, we will be out of position to receive them.  

When we surrender to God's will in our lives, allowing no room for our own will, we truly open ourselves up to experience the fullness of His love and provision.  We must commit ourselves to receiving God's perfect will for us, and not accepting anything less...or trying to force anything more. But to do that, we have to know what that perfect will is.