Taking time to stop and smell the roses...

Have you ever felt like you were waiting to hear from God and you couldn't hear Him? Have you ever felt like you couldn't hear His tiny whispers and if He wanted you to hear something He was literally going to have to shout it to you? Sometimes we hear those tiny whispers and it's such a wonderful feeling because it's almost like feeling something soft & simple...like a cool breeze blowing through your hair. But sometimes, for me, I feel such unrest about something and for whatever the reason may be, I'm not hearing His soft, gentle whisper. For that reason, I NEED Him to SHOUT to me; put it RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE where there is NO WAY I can miss it. Let me share with you what God has been literally been shouting at me the last couple of days. 

CONTENTMENT! God has basically been saying to me to just be content with where I am in my life RIGHT NOW and not worry about WHERE I AM GOING or WHERE I WANT TO BE. That topic has been brought up on several occasions in the last couple of days and I have just felt like God has wanted me to hear it. Not only has God used people to speak that to me, but also for me to voice that to others that may need to hear it. It's really an awesome thing! My roommate, Natalie and I were enjoying a great moment together the other night. We had spent the entire day together (which contrary to popular belief, doesn't happen often even though we DO live together) and we were starting dinner, drinking some hot apple cider together and Natalie said, "It really doesn't get any better than this does it Amy?" and me being negative said "Well, I guess it could" and she boldly started saying how we need to enjoy where we are because if we are constantly worried about the next step in our lives then we can't enjoy the moments now. The cliche that comes to mind is "taking time to stop and smell the roses". I know, it's a horrible cliche, but it's true. And a great quote that goes along with that is:

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; 

remember that what you now have was once among the things 

you only hoped for."

A great way of thinking about it is that when you graduate high school, all you can think about is moving out, then when you move out, all you can think about is graduating college and starting your "grown-up job". In the middle of all of that I'm sure you're thinking about dating and such...your heart longs to find "that person". Well, you find someone...you start dating and it's perfect, everything you dreamed it would be (but of course it's not enough), you start thinking about when you will get engaged and get married because now that's ALL YOU WANT is just to be married, while at the same time you don't want to live with your rooomate anymore, you JUST want to buy a house of your own (because at this point you are in your "grown-up" job that you so badly wanted a couple years ago). So, now you're "happily" married and you've just bought a new house. You've been married a couple of years, but now ALL you want is children and of course you need a new car because you can't drive that 2 door sports car  anymore because kids can't fit in that!...I won't continue with the story because we all know how it goes....we are never completely happy and we all know that once we attain one level of what we think we want, we always want more...it's never enough, that's just life and our sinful nature I'm afraid. But what God is teaching me right now is really just to find contentment in where I am and more importantly in Him. He is going to give me what I NEED.  If we don't take time to enjoy the season in which we are in, we will miss it! We will miss out on SO many memories and fun things we could be doing RIGHT NOW and what God is teaching us RIGHT NOW because we're too worried about what's down the road or what we aren't getting. Trust me, I'm the world's worst about doing this, but I've realized that it's time for a change. I think I'm definitely going to try my best to take more time to stop and smell the roses because if I don't, I could miss one that smells REAL sweet! :) 

"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." --Romans 8:25