Have you ever experienced God speaking to you specifically through another person? I have.
About tens years ago I was going through a period of real struggle over the fact that I was still single in my thirties. A good friend had been walking that journey with me, and as she was praying for me God gave her some verses of scripture and a word that he wanted me to ‘rejoice’ and ‘be joyful’, despite that the fact that we had seen no answers to prayer.
She sent me a note to share the words and the scripture reference. It was Habakkuk 3:17-19. You may be familiar with it.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
Habakkuk 3:17-10
I’d like to say I was greatly encouraged, and immediately received this word with joy. In reality, I sobbed my heart out. I felt like the fig that does not bud and the vines without grapes. All I felt was lack. I didn’t see all the other ways God had blessed me, not least the incomparable gift of Himself.
He loved me enough to speak specifically to me though my friend, and he’d been trying to get my attention for a while. The same verses were in a birthday card my friend had sent me the year before. I’d just never gotten around to looking up the reference. God was speaking to me even then, but I wasn’t listening.
Learning to ‘rejoice’ and ‘be joyful’ was a milestone in my journey with God, because it taught me to see beyond my circumstances, beyond my own desire for a husband, to the One who desires to be first and foremost in my heart.
Do you have a story to share in the Comments?
Photo Credit: krwlms via Compfight cc
This is Day 28 of the series 31 Days to Listen.
Flourish! 
Hello Ann.. I just wanted you to know that I have been enjoying your blog and your posts on listening. I understand very well what it is like to wait on God and wonder if He is going to bring the answer. Those seasons bring an intimacy that cannot be found any other way. They are difficult and sometimes very discouraging, but in the end we find that God is so very present with us. I don’t know where you are in your life right now.. but I sense that God wants you to know you are not forgotten.
Blessings,
Alicia
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Thank you Alicia. I agree with you completely. I’m still in that waiting season and God is still blessing me.
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