Prayers of Obedience and Boldness

Wow. Life sure has been busy. Between a rough pregnancy and now a new baby, not only have I had little time to update my blog, but the lack of sleep doesn't make for dream filled nights! However, God has spoken in other ways, and I do have some catching up I can do from many months ago. I'll start with this...

My dream ironically begins with me waking up. I think right away about calling my friend D. It is really early in the morning but I decide to try anyway. My call wakes her up, but she still chooses to talk. I find out that she is feeling really ill, yet is not sure why. She can't even seem to get out of bed. D falls asleep while she is trying to carry on our conversation. I feel strongly prompted to pray for her while we are still connected on the phone - even if she is unaware. My prayers with God remain thoughts, silent to the rest of the world. My next and immediate prompting is to pray aloud. Obediently, I begin with a whisper and increasingly get louder until I reach a normal talking voice. D wakes up. The next thing I know, I am with her, sitting on the edge of her bed. We are talking about how she feels. I hear my voice some what like an echo, as if I'm far away. It says, "the pain you are feeling is emotional, deal with the emotions and the pain will go away." D lays there, just staring at me, looking curious. I realize that she is waiting for me to speak. She is aware that something strange is going on with me. I ask her, "did you hear that?" She answers me rather confused, "no." That's when I realize, rather shocked and amazed, that I just heard a message from God and I share it with her.

When I awoke from this dream, my initial reaction was to think that perhaps my friend needed prayer. That there was (or would be) something going on in her life. So, I called her to find out. Although the dream definitely highlighted D, there didn't seem to be much connection between the vision and her circumstances. I took some time in prayer to see if God could help me unfold the message. He revealed to me the now obvious conclusion - that this dream had nothing to do with my friend. It had everything to do with asking me to step up and be bold, once again! I feel He was saying that while I frequently hear His voice well, I need to speak out with bravery and faith in prayer. That if I can accomplish this, so much more will be revealed. When I prayed in my head, nothing happened. When I faithfully stepped out and began praying louder, it brought me closer to my friend. It was then that I heard God speaking clearly and audibly. It was then that He revealed things unknown to us. It was then that He gave us guidance. It was as if God was telling me, be bold, speak out, have faith, trust and be obedient. If I had not been obedient and trusting in the first place to His prompting to call D, and then to pray aloud, we would have never heard what He had to share with us.

On another note, I like how God's voice was like my own. I like how, even though I did not know it was Him at first, it was so obvious and audible. I like how He rewarded me for my obedience. It tells me that He will not ask us to do something without coming through on His end. It also tells me that he cares. I questioned why He didn't just give me answers in the first place. I'm certain that if He had, without leading me to ask questions, I would have never known it was Him speaking.

I have been challenged to speak my prayers boldly and aloud, and to be obedient to how God is calling me to pray. I challenge you to do the same. Yes, God can hear your thoughts, and it is still a good way to pray. I am not suggesting that God will not listen to your silent prayers. I am certain he hears every cry of our heart, however spoken. However, there is something so much more faith building and empowering when we speak out in our prayers. Listen for God's prompting. Allow Him to guide what and how your pray. If he guides you in a certain direction, you can trust that He will reveal Himself and His love for you.