The Power of a Whisper....

Tonight, 29 groups of different ages, genders, backgrounds and stories all met in our gym to kick off Community groups for this coming year. I am going to be honest here and say community groups were something I had a very hard time getting into initially, but soon realized it wasnt the group or the discussions that hadn't attracted me it was the mere lack of commitment and effort on my part. After I really started trying to be consistent about going and giving it my all I found that it was an amazing way to connect and grow in my realtionship with Christ with the help and encouragment of my group. It became a time each week that I looked forward to so much and felt a hunger to feel that closeness with each other and God through our discussions and prayer time. We battled many ups and downs throughout our time together last year, deaths, births, major illnesses, job, family and financial struggles, you name it we probably faced it. It became such an amazing sense of unity and support that I think we all gained because we knew regardless of what we were facing we had a group that was there with us to encourage and pray for us.

I am excited that this years groups have kicked off and we can begin a new journey together. Our groups have changed a little this year because of the growth thats taken place but I think God is using this to stretch us and take us out of our comfort zone a little more. Pastor Phillip shared with us tonight the series that all community groups will be doing for the next 4 weeks and thats the book "The Power of a Whisper." by Bill Hybels. We all face moments in life where we feel like God is speaking to us and asking us to go in a certain direction or face a specific situation and it can be difficult to decipher His voice. Or we have so much clutter and noise in our lives that we often forget to take the time to be still and hear what He is trying to say. This series is a way for us to have the tools to hear His voice more clearly and understand if it is the voice of God we think we are hearing.

Scott and I were talking a little about our first impression and the discussions that took place tonight and we both feel its going to be an awesome series. I know that we all want to follow the voice of Christ and its hard sometimes to decide what that means. I think most of us have an innate sense to be kind and giving and good but is that our personalities or is that from God? When you get a deep sense to help someone in need is that because you just have a generous heart or is that because of Gods leading??? One of the members in our group mentioned tonight that its tough to know weather its Gods voice or just your conscience and wanting to be good or do good. I have to admit I really struggle with this. I often find myself not being able to know whether something I am feeling is the voice of God or a desire in my heart thats of my own abilities.

These are just some thoughts that I wanted to share and get throughts from others, how do you feel about this or what do you think about the voice of God in your life each day??? In the next 4 weeks we will be going through this series and during that time I would like to try and share the journey of what I feel like God is showing and teaching me. Do you know what it means to hear the still small voice of God??? I pray that as we begin this series I would learn to remove all that distracts me from the sweet whispers of Jesus so that I can allow my life to become more Spirit led and directed.