The most spiritual place of the house.
The place where more close encounters of the God kind seem to occur.
The room that seems to resound with the call of The Spirit and where the clearest insights are received.
I do, of course, mean the bathroom!
Don’t ask me why but the bathroom seems to be the place where God will often grab me and where I will hear His voice clearer that anywhere else. Don’t think I’m insane in this either as I know I’m not the only one who finds this… it seems to be pretty well documented!
Maybe it’s because we are at our most vulnerable and open, maybe it’s because it’s the one place where we stop and our minds can truly remain distraction free (assuming you’ve not got a TV in your bathroom of course!)
So, why the talk of Bathrooms and God speaking? Because last night, in agony with my back and extreme discomfort from restless legs/arms, I took a bath and God chose to use that to hit me with a huge addition to my previous post on obedience.
In my previous post I commented that “whilst obedience has it’s rewards, it also has it’s price. We’re having to prepare to up roots, say farewell to friends and family, deal with the normal trauma kids go through when moving and then go to wherever God sends us.” – but there was one thing I still had to learn, and last night was school time.
By way of introduction to the issue I need to quickly discuss Prayer – or specifically, praying for others. There are times when we are asked to pray for others and it’s a challenge.
It’s a challenge because we might need to pray into a situation, and ask for a response, that conflicts with out own personal feelings or wishes or desires.
That leads to a couple of options – We pray, grudgingly, and don’t mean it or we pray, and admit that it’s not our wish, but submit to Gods will.
There’s a third option, and that’s where God gave me a kick last night. Where He is asking us to bring our views in line with His will, and to let go of our desires and wishes and simply let go and let God do what is best.
This one is the hardest one as it’s about changing our minds and our hearts. It’s about truly submitting fully to Gods will, no matter what the personal cost and what our personal view. It’s about fully trusting God, praying wholeheartedly and completely and meaning every word as if the words were the most important words you’ve ever spoken.
So, why did God have to kick me about that subject – and tell me it’s time to let go, submit to His will, trust Him and pray wholeheartedly?
It comes down to the line about “saying farewell… to friends”
There are some friends of ours who are, in so many ways, as close as family to us and have played such a huge part in my life personally over the years. They need prayer, lots of it, and that prayer could mean them moving 100s of miles away.
In this day and age a few hundred miles is nothing – but for me this is huge. I know they are there, just down the road. We’ve been there for each other in the good times and the bad and our families have grown together often on parallel paths. This is also huge as it’s forcing me to face up to my feelings about moving about and the RAF (long story but if you know me, you’ll know what I’m talking about)
God told me that I needed to pray 100% wholeheartedly for them. Not a “I don’t like this but Your will be done” type prayer, but a complete change of heart prayer and for me to release them personally and to commit myself to praying for Gods will to be done completely in their lives, no matter where that takes them or what it means.
They know who they are. My prayer is – “God, have Your way in their lives. Take them on in You – lead them, grow them, bless them and meet their needs as they obey Your will”
For me, it’s another part of learning to be obedient and doing as I’m told. I can be a right stubborn sod sometimes, but this was one time where stubbornness was not an option.