{"id":3162,"date":"2012-09-24T07:23:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T11:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2012-09-24T11:25:43","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T15:25:43","slug":"where-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/09\/where-am-i.html","title":{"rendered":"Where am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This year has been a transition point for my life. \u00a0Last year, I had a drastic change when my husband died. \u00a0In some ways, there is a new freedom. \u00a0During other times, I realize that I’m much more constrained. \u00a0There was a lot of freedom in being a married woman and simply having another warm body in the house.<\/p>\n

The other day as I walked down my street, a man I never met called out my name. \u00a0Shocked, I turned and realized that even though we have been distant neighbors for many years, we had never met; but this person knew my name and was bold enough to yell at me. \u00a0Surprised, I smile, waved and quickly moved away. \u00a0My thoughts were\u00a0Yipes! \u00a0This is unpleasant.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Okay, now what? \u00a0Do I stop walking down this street?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Because of this whole transition, I’ve yearned to know where the Lord is leading for the next years. \u00a0I believe some things are settled. \u00a0My work within the mentally challenged community through Special Gathering will be ongoing. \u00a0However, the fringe exercise and direction of my activity in this ministry is always in question.<\/p>\n

During this time, I received some “words from the Lord” from several interesting places. \u00a0First, came a dream that I didn’t understand. \u00a0I shared it in front of a large group because I felt that the Lord wanted me to share it. \u00a0(By the way, I always advise people to\u00a0never<\/strong>\u00a0share their dreams in a crowd. \u00a0Dreams\u00a0reveal\u00a0a great deal about you.) \u00a0My good and trusted friend told me what the dream meant. \u00a0She said I was planning to drop a portion of my ministry; and I must not do that because it was having a wide ranging effect. \u00a0I had planned to drop somethings that I felt were not beneficial but very time consuming.<\/p>\n

Later, as I pondered dropping a different portion of my ministry, another friend said that the Lord was telling her that even though I was thinking about dropping somethings, I should not do this. \u00a0Through my friend, the Lord said that this too was much more effective than I knew. \u00a0She hesitantly shared this during a prayer session.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>God often speaks through a prophetic word to our hearts when it comes to direction. \u00a0The key is that we should be listening. \u00a0To tell the truth, I was not at all pleased with these two messages. \u00a0The things I wanted to drop have been hard work and I like results as much as anyone else. \u00a0The results I see are barely accountable.<\/p>\n

Over the past few months, even after these clear messages from the Lord, I tried to rationalize why I should not continue doing this work. \u00a0However, there was no way these two friends could’ve known my heart-plans because I had shared them with no one–only the Lord.<\/p>\n

Clearly, not everything that people tell us is from God. \u00a0When God speaks to us, it should be a confirmation of what you already know or the answer to a question that we are actually asking. \u00a0Therefore, if a neighbor yells your name out of the blue, giving you a message that does not apply to your life, then you should smile and move away as quickly as possible. \u00a0This message is probably not from the Lord.<\/p>\n

Where am I?<\/em>\u00a0is a question that we ask in many situations. \u00a0The question may not mean that we are lost; but simply in transition. \u00a0We feel the need for more secure\u00a0boundaries\u00a0in our life. \u00a0God will supply the answers for us and most of time it is through godly men and women we know and trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year has been a transition point for my life. \u00a0Last year, I had a drastic change when my husband died. \u00a0In some ways, there is a new freedom. \u00a0During other times, I realize that I’m much more constrained. \u00a0There was a lot of freedom in being a married woman and simply having another warm…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4,41,1],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,403,699,715,701,694,689,57,543,6,700],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-dream-interpretation","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-prophetic-words","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere am I? - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where am I? - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year has been a transition point for my life. \u00a0Last year, I had a drastic change when my husband died. \u00a0In some ways, there is a new freedom. \u00a0During other times, I realize that I’m much more constrained. \u00a0There was a lot of freedom in being a married woman and simply having another warm…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/09\/where-am-i.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-24T11:23:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-09-24T15:25:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/09\/transition.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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