The value of looking to spiritual markers

The other night I started to look through a workbook I borrowed from my in-laws called Experiencing God as Couples by Henry T. Blackaby. In it Henry Blackaby writes, "When God gets ready for you to take a new step or direction in His activity, it will always be in sequence with what He has already been doing in your life." He goes on to talk about looking to spiritual markers in your life to help you discern God's leading. I kinda like to think of spiritual markers as those piles of stones you see on hikes, pointing you in the right direction toward your destination.

For my husband and I, God has used this workbook as a spiritual marker today. Let me explain. About a year and a half ago, a couple that we knew in ministry asked my husband and I for pre-marital counseling. We were shocked and humbled, to say the least, that this godly couple had asked us to help them prepare for marriage. We had no credentials or degrees or experience in doing this...none whatsoever, but we prayerfully lifted this up to God and waited. To our astonishment, He confirmed that He wanted us to do it. So we prayerfully created some topics to discuss with them, and stepped out in faith. Each meeting we prayed that the Holy Spirit would lead and guide our time with them, and all I can say is WOW. God met us each time, revealing His presence, and showed my husband and I how to work as a team. His gifts and my gifts were like a symphony, complementing and working in perfect unity together. We could do nothing but give God the glory for the miraculous ways he moved and worked in us.

After that amazing experience we began to wonder if God has a special ministry to couples in our future. To make a long story short, several months ago we began a major apartment room change and organization project. Living in New York City, our space is extremely tight. We chose to do this to maximize our space for our family and also to make it big enough to host more groups for ministry in our home. Our project included making our master bedroom into our living room, our living room into our dining room, our office into our bedroom, and our hallway into a large office/storage area! If your head is spinning just thinking about it, imagine what it was like for us! We had to sell furniture, including our beloved king size canopy bed, and add a gazillion bookshelves to our walls, but we are now in the final stages of getting our apartment together. Thank God! 

This morning right after I had prayed for guidance in writing this much overdue blog, my husband called and I told him how much I wanted to order the DVD set and go through the Experiencing God as Couples workbook with him. As I looked into buying the set online and thought about the topic of this blog, the spiritual markers suddenly became clear. We  can use our bigger living space and invite other couples to go through the workbook together! Wow, thanks God!

How about you, what are the spiritual markers in your life? Where might God be directing you?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

It's raining today

...and I'm waiting to hear Your voice. The rain is a reminder of your constant provision to water the earth, to cleanse what is dirty, and restore life to that which grows. Mostly I'm annoyed by the rain. I'm annoyed that my clothes get wet, and that the sky is gray. I want sunshine and blue skies always, and never the rain. Yet our planet needs the rain, just as I need a fresh anointing of Your Spirit.

Lord, fill my parched soul with the refreshing rain of Your Spirit. Cleanse my heart. Heal what is broken. Let no crevice in my being remain unfilled by You. Open my eyes to see You, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, for Your everlasting love for me demonstrated on the cross. You suffered for my sins, my shortcomings, my bad attitudes, my grumbling, my jealousy, my apathy, my brokenness, my dirtiness, my JUNK. You suffered for the joy of defeating death, defeating sin, and defeating the power of darkness. You died for me and even though I do not deserve it you have proclaimed that I AM YOURS and that YOU ARE MINE!

I pray for all who are reading this. I pray for God's divine anointing on you at this very moment. I pray that the waters of God's healing and forgiveness would wash away the pain, the depression, the anger, the bitterness, the hate, and bring complete healing in Jesus' name. I pray for freedom in Jesus' name! I pray that the eyes of your heart would be opened to know God's great love for you through Jesus. Yes, Lord, come in power. We need you.