Even after 10 years, I am continually amazed at how much "easier" it seems to be to hear my Papa (Father God) speaking to me on this side of the ocean (in the states) than on the other side (in Kharkov). I have always given the enemy the credit for this by saying that the spiritual oppression in Ukraine is so much greater than here, and that is true. Yet, even as I write this, I am reminded of what volunteers often say about how much they "experience God" when in Ukraine, perhaps even more than at home in their own cities.
All that leads me to understand - and to be convicted - that it is not only the enemy at work that keeps me from hearing the Father's still, small voice. It is also the busyness of my daily life in Kharkov and my failure to set aside more of those times of quiet in the midst of that busyness which tends to "drown out" the voice of my Father!
That is why I love driving on long road journeys when I am in the states as opposed to flying. On those journeys it becomes just me and Jesus in the front seat, sometimes singing and worshiping together,other times simply having quiet, peaceful "conversations" as we travel the road together.
I just arrived back in Arkansas after such a journey and find my spirit amazed by the love of the Father I have experienced over the past days! Every day He is speaking to me, and every day I am hearing, and I am sooooooo thankful!
I am soaking in the knowledge that today He is thinking of me, planning out good things that have purpose and that are leading to the future He has prepared for me (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV). But more than that, before I was born, before I was formed, He had the blueprint of my being and of my life perfectly "drawn out"! (Psalm 139, Jeremiah 1:5)
I have read and studied and even talked on all these verses in the past, but now He is literally bringing them before me every single day in some way - through Sunday sermons, Christian tv programs, music, etc. - so I can hardly wait to see where He is taking me! Just this morning I turned on James Robison for "Wednesdays with Beth", and simply laughed when Beth Moore began a series of teaching out of Psalm 139!
Join me on this journey if you want! I'm looking forward to listening to my Papa's voice every single day in every single way. I pray you are, too!
