Elizabeth Dianne: One Way to Hear From God At Christmas

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

One Way to Hear From God At Christmas

A repost from past pages

ADVENT-DAY 18

o I wanted to write about the devotionals that we had with our family on the day celebrating Christmas--the day when everyone is finally here and together again.

This day was pretty emotional since one of our daughters-in-law had cancer and chemo a good part of the year. I am thrilled to write that she is cancer free.
Praise God and thank you so much to all of our friends and family who were so faithful to pray for her.
My husband did the Christmas devotional on Saturday.
The next day was Sunday, of course, and there are so many people to shower and get ready that we decided to stay home and worship together just as a family.
I was in charge of the devotional and decided to talk to my family about the importance of learning to actively listen to the Lord as he speaks to us--Giving him a chance to speak back.
It seems that sometimes we get in so much of a rush that we end up giving our requests to Him and then going on with our day--chores, business--whatever!
We did an exercise I used to do with my students when I taught school where we became as still as possible and listened for as many sounds around us as we could possibly hear.
Then we shared what we heard.
The heating unit, traffic in front of the house, coughs and breaths taken--neighborhood noises that we would not have 'heard' had we not taken the time to 'listen.'
After this, we did the same thing except for a few minutes more--I encouraged each one to go into his/her 'prayer closet' and listen to the God of the Universe speak.
It is amazing what discipline must be used to constantly bring our minds back to Jesus--not thinking about what we are going to do the rest of the day, not planning dinner, or being distracted by the noises in the house and outside--but constantly breathing a prayer for God to speak and for our hearts and minds to be open to hear what He has to say.
After this time, I gave each person, who wanted to, a chance to share what they had heard from God.
It was at that point in time that my 10-year-old granddaughter wanted to share her heart.
First of all she explained that she really didn't know what I meant by a prayer closet but she took her new Christmas hat (black with a big white flower) and placed it over her face.
She LOVES to wear hats.
I think she got my drift--about the closet--
She told us the images that had come to her mind while she was listening to God and also shared that God had put a song in her heart.
The song was Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.
She started singing the song and all of our voices joined in with hers to the strains of this old and beautiful Christmas hymn.
As her comments and singing drew to a close, she said, "Mimi, what I love about coming here (they live in another state) is that I can always feel the Holy Spirit in your house."
Every Christmas I pray that God will visit us especially as our family meets to celebrate His Son's birth.
My grandmother's heart rejoiced and I knew once again we had experienced Christmas and the Messiah had truly come and made Himself known to us.

P.S. A few nights ago I watched on Facebook Live as this now 16 year old sang two solos at her high school's Christmas program. I love seeing people use the talents God has given them--such a blessing!