Time for something short and light hearted. I go through spurts where I'm really good at listening and then spurts where I'm terrible at it. It's weird. You would honestly think I'd learn - I've seen what happens when I listen...and when I don't. This particular day for me was a "not so much listening" kind of day, and I love how creative God was in getting my attention...
I had needed to spend time with God all day. My time with God usually happens in the morning because for me, it's the time when I can give my most focused attention and actually stay awake. This week, however, was a little different for me because I had been asked to teach vacation bible school. My kids love to be with their cousins and my nephews loved coming to our vacation bible school - so for that week I had a house full of nephews,in addition to my own kids, to gather up each morning and head out the door by 7:30 am. It wasn't a big deal, but I never could seem to budget in the time that I usually gave God each morning. Funny how that is always the first thing to go. Anyway, because of the morning schedule, I hadn't yet gotten around to doing my devotion and spending time in prayer. We got home from VBS at about noon, everyone needed lunch, I had errands to run and suddenly it was time to eat again and I needed to make supper...if you're a mom, you know the drill. The whole time I was thinking; I really need to sit down with my Bible...but I just kept putting it off. I was constantly talking myself out of doing the one thing I needed to be doing and substituting what should have been quiet time with God with busy work. I had decided on spaghetti for dinner that night, so I was standing at the stove putting noodles in the boiling water when my cell phone starting ringing. I looked down and realized the call was from my Dad. So I picked it up to answer and was excited to catch up with him. Except there was silence on the other end. Dad? Dad? Nothing. I hung up and went about my tasks. Then it rang again. I picked up, and again nothing. Hmmm, he must be pocket dialing? So I called my Dad and asked if he had called - he said he hadn't and that his phone showed no record of having ever called. What? That seemed kind of weird, but I put it out of my head and kept on cooking - all the while the phone kept on ringing. Each time I answered and each time I was met with silence on the other end. Ring after ring after ring - all from my Dad. No matter what I tried, shutting off my phone and then restarting it, muting it, shoving it under the pillow - the calls kept coming. Finally, after about 15 frustrating minutes of ringing, a thought hit me: What if that's God calling? Would that be really weird? It was a crazy thought, but what if God was trying to get my attention and was telling me it was time for me to sit down and spend some time with Him - like I was supposed to do earlier in the day. I wondered what would happen if I sat down and opened up the Bible? If maybe the calls would stop? So I got out my bible study and opened up my Bible - and immediately my phone stopped ringing. Of course it did, because I had finally answered the call the way I was supposed to. Stunned, I looked at my recent calls list - all the other calls and missed calls from the day had been wiped from the list except my Dad's number and the calls from his phone - calls that he never made and never ended up having a record of. And the calls totaled 100 missed calls - exactly. 100 times is what it took for me to hear God's voice that day. And, when I looked up the significance of the number 100 - I learned it means fullness, full reward, child of promise and revival. Wow! Not only had God gotten my attention but He also gave me encouragement and the knowledge that if I continue to go to His word when He asks me to, that it's where I will find the revival of my own heart, that it's in scripture and in times of prayer that the fullness lies.
While I was disappointed in myself for having taken so long to figure it out, I was far more overwhelmed with gratitude that God so wanted to spend time with me and that He cared enough to get my attention...and in such a fun, creative way. Following Jesus certainly isn't boring! The picture above is one of the screen shots I took that day showing just 19 of the 100 calls within a 10 minute window. He's calling us to spend time with Him and I don't want to miss it anymore because I'm too busy.
"It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 2 Thessalonians 2:14
"and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified." - Romans 8:30