Trust the Whisper: Finding Courage for Your CallingНамуна

The most difficult part of trusting a whisper is that it will not come with a road map.

It would be easier to follow God if his plans came with a full set of easy to follow instructions. But just like putting together IKEA furniture, most of the time we are left scratching our heads wondering how all the pieces fit.

Even when I knew I was clearly hearing a whisper to do something different with my life, I resisted because I felt too unqualified to listen. How could I ever do anything to help solve an unsolvable problem like homelessness? Instead of trusting God, I found myself trying to cling to a life plan that wasn’t working anymore.

But that whisper was insistent. It kept whispering. It kept rising from inside my soul and slipped not only into my dreams but into my every waking hour. It stubbornly persisted, quietly demanding my attention. I was finally forced to decide. Is it crazier to listen or pretend I never heard it?

You might already have heard a whisper but are afraid to listen. Maybe it is calling you to something you don’t think is possible. It might seem like a silly idea that seems to have no relation to your present reality.

Become a teacher. But you have spent thirty years as an electrical engineer.

Write a book. But you don’t believe you have anything to say.

Volunteer at a shelter. But you are fearful of who you might meet there.

Whispers call us into places we would not go and to dreams that feel too big. In order to listen, we have to have faith in what we hope for and conviction in things not seen. When you take that first step onto a new life path, you won’t know where it is taking you and you won’t be able to see around the next bend in the road.

But if you stay with the journey, your whispers will guide you to a life that was always waiting for you and the one God had always planned.

Time for Reflection

(If you don’t have time to reflect on all three, choose one that you want to explore)

1. Have you already heard a whisper that you have been afraid to listen to?
2. How has God been faithful in your life already?
3. Remember a time in your life when you had to do something that didn’t come with a full set of instructions. How did you handle it?

Prayer for the Day

(This is an offering for you or choose own prayer for the day)

God, help me to remember you are always with me. Even when I feel unqualified for what you are calling me to do, you have a plan that is greater than I can imagine. Give me faith to believe in things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Amen.