When God gives you a glimpse of the future
We’d finished presentations and Bible reading, and it was time to pray.
I hadn’t planned on prophecy that day.
Usually, my kids like to run to their prayer spots.” Dutch goes to his bed and Heidi stands by the front door (I don’t know why) and they hide their faces in their little hands and pray to God there. Although I want them to be comfortable praying in front of people, I also like the habit of “hiding away” in a private place to interact with God. I have no idea what Heidi says, but I’ve overheard Dutch’s prayer-time and it’s the real deal.
But this particular day, they opted to stay on the couch, with me, and pray there. We bowed our heads, closed our eyes, and I waited.
Silence.
After a bit I opened my eyes and looked at Dutch. He still had head bowed, eyes closed, face scrunched up, intent. I closed my eyes again and waited.
Silence.
A waited another minute then looked up again. “Dutch, Babe, are you going to pray?”
He looked at me. “I’m listening to hear what God’s saying.”
Well I’ll be. Who’s discipling who here?
“Oh! Well that’s great, hon. Ok, I’ll let you listen.” Now, we’ve discussed how God does in fact speak to us, silently, in our hearts, more like an impression, or like whispering a thought into our mind. But Dutch has always insisted that He’s never heard God speak. I waited. None of this was initiated by me, and I never want to encourage them to say they heard from God if they didn’t. I don’t want hearing or not hearing to be the reason I praise them or chide them. ANY words from God are always a gift, not something we earn or deserve praise for.
Dutch looked up, all seriousness.
God said, “Read the Bible every day.” I slowly nodded my head.
“Okay. That’s a good thing to do.”
He bowed his head again. Waited a minute. He looked up again, very serious.
He said, “Follow me.” Again I nodded. Again he bowed his head. A minute later:
“Serve the world. He said, ‘Serve the world.'”
By now my eyes are filling with tears but I blink hard so he won’t see. Such simple words, but so true. He bows his head again, then just sits quietly for a moment. I slowly open my journal, trying to keep him from noticing because if I make a big deal of this I know he’ll get embarrassed and run off. I nonchalantly grab a pen from the coffee table. I can’t miss a single word of this. He starts again:
“When I grow up, I’m going to write Word-Bibles. I’m going to listen to God and write down all the things God tells me and put them into books. And I’ll design songs about God and write those songs down too. And I’ll write Bible stories. Not the ones in the Bible, but stories like them from these days, things God is doing to help people in these days.
And the books will say: Serve people you don’t know. Die for people (if you want to). Unless you have a job, then you can’t die for people. Buy people Christmas trees. Build houses for people who don’t have houses.
And the books I write will be 1,000 pages long. And I’ll write down everything God tells me, I’ll write it down. And I’ll have workers too, and they’ll help me write down all that God tells us. I’ll have 26 workers in my company. It will be called the “God Saves Us” Company. Or, I might call it “Get To It,” like “Get-to-it-telling-people-about-God.” And we’ll mail the books to people. There’ll be 1 book for every family in the world. And it will spread almost all over the world — even to Hawaii. Even to Africa. Even Asia! Even Australia the farthest country from here. Even people in the ice pole. Even South America. It’ll start in North America, in Oregon, in Molalla. (Close to Oma and Papa) And it will spread to Antarctica.
He sat quiet for a moment, looking off into space. Then looked at me:
“Now can I play? That was exhausting!”
~
I felt like taking off my shoes, right there. Sure, there’s no way to know for sure if that was God’s prompting or merely a little boy’s imagination. But you better believe I’ll be keeping this with me all his growing-up days and praying that indeed God would make Dutch a man who speaks for God and spreads His Word all the way around the world–even the ice pole! 🙂
What if we sat still long enough to receive God’s dreams for our lives?
There’s a lot of talk about dreaming dreams for God. Attempting great things. That’s awesome, but let’s start by sitting still and listening, by simply asking, “God what are Your dreams and what part would you like me to play? Sure, some of the sacred is sure to be lost in translation. Chances are Dutch’s publishing house won’t be based out of Molalla. *smile* But the heart is there.
As we approach the New Year and the world is abuzz with resolutions and self-improvement, might I suggest a time of quiet for your heart? A time to sit silent before your Father and ask Him, what His dreams are this year and how He might want you to play a part? Whether “designing” songs for Him or “buying people Christmas trees,” no doubt He has some grand ideas for your life this year.
Before you launch ahead, listen. God may give you a glimpse of the future.
~
{In honor of this call to silence and listening, we’re staying quiet here tomorrow. We also moved last weekend, so I’m up to my eyeballs in boxes and a day of rest from writing is needed by this Mama! Take some time this weekend to get alone with God, open His Word, and listen, really listen. You might be amazed at what you hear. Thank you for reading.}