God Speaks To Andrew's Heart!

Last night was an awesome God moment for Andrew and I just have to share! As I tuck my kids in bed, I typically try to include in my prayers over them my thankfulness for the gifts and talents God has given them. I was about to pray with Andrew and was telling him how proud I was of his precious and thoughtful heart. He always thinks about how others feel and tries to be a servant almost effortlessly, it's just truly one of his gifts from God. He reminded me of an incident yesterday when we were camping and his little brother, Connor, apparently ran into some thorn bushes and scratched the side of his eye. They came to show me (it really wasn't that bad) but Andrew replayed the story of how Connor walked into thorns and started crying and Andrew found a soft leaf to rub on it and then he said he prayed over him for God to take the pain away until they were able to let me check it out. I praised him for his act of kindness and then he said,
"You know what mom, I forgot, I was the one that ran into a thorn bush, Connor actually got that cut by his eye because I threw a stick that accidental hit him"
"Hmmm, that's interesting", I said. And then before I really realized what was coming out of my mouth I said, "Andrew, that was God's Holy Spirit speaking to you. He was convicting you of your sin so that you can be close to God again." He admitted to me that he lied because he didn't want to get in trouble for throwing the stick. Then I asked, "Do you believe God speaks to you Andrew?" and he wasn't so sure. He said, "Well, I never hear Him really talk." What a priceless moment of truth teaching I had right in front of me! Well, I decided to work an experiment with Andrew. I said, "Andrew, I want you to spend some time praying right now for God to speak to your heart. Pray to Him about it and then get quiet for a minute and just listen to what He tells you and then tell me what you hear Him saying to you." So, we both prayed quietly for a moment about it and I said, "Well Andrew, what thoughts are going through your mind right now?" To which he replied, "Mom, I'm not done yet!" He was still praying! I asked him what he was asking God and he said he just wanted God to speak something encouraging to him. After a few more minutes I asked him what he was thinking and he said, "Well, I just keep hearing God say joy and rejoice over and over again." Wow! What a blessing! And if you know my son at all, Joy is who he is! That child could never have his joy ripped from him I don't think! That's another one of his God given gifts. I told him so in that moment and I also told him that I believed God has given him joy for a special purpose and that He wants Andrew to rejoice always, it his unique and special way to bring God glory!
So, here were 2 instances of God speaking to Andrew in one night. I wanted to share with him another way that God speaks to us and that is through His word. I told him that as he memorizes scripture more and more, that the Lord will speak to his heart through His written word. He then started quoting a bible verse from 1st Samuel, he said, "Man looks at the outward appearances but the Lord looks at the heart." Ahh ha! Wow, what an awesome verse for God to give my son in that moment! Our Father knows our hearts, He speaks to our hearts. I reminded Andrew that the bible also says that as God's sheep, we will hear and know His voice. It was a really cool moment and as Andrew darted off to bed i sat there a minute and a brief wave of doubt hit me. Was I really teaching my son this practice of hearing God correctly? This was never anything I was taught growing up. In fact, it was only a year ago that I truly believe I heard God for the first time in my heart without questioning it. Just as soon as the enemy was trying to throw that doubt my way, I flipped the page of the book I was reading and guess what the subtitle to the next chapter was..."Making Room for Joy." That was NOT a coincidence! I believe with all my heart that God was confirming the teaching that just took place.
You see, I prayed and prayed a few years ago that God would teach me what He wants me to know about Him so that I could begin pouring that truth into my children at a young age. I begged Him to show me, "great and unsearchable things I did not know" (Jer. 33:3)and I'm so thankful that He has begun to do so. The Lord has so many things he wants to teach us about who He is and how His spirit can truly move and work in us and I want my children to feel empowered by the gift of His spirit living in them. I thank God every day for giving me an open mind to receive the mysteries He wants to show me. I may look weird to others by my beliefs about God and how he moves in our lives today, but I know my Father's voice and that is something that I no longer doubt and no one can take that assurance from me.

God speaks! He speaks to us all and oh, how He longs for us to hear Him. The truth is, children don't have near the distractions that adults do in their everyday little lives. If trained to listen, they can hear the voice of the Lord!! But the good news is... so can we! We just have to be still and quiet enough to stop and listen!