I had asked Him for 5 months and no response. I knew of a few people who had a "life verse" and I wanted to know if I had one. I kept pointing to various pages asking "How about this one?" and still no nod. But an idea came, I should word it this way "What is my rule for life?" I remember where I was when I got the answer "The just shall live by faith." I was in that storage room organizing clothes facing toward the mirror across the room, not looking at myself but looking into the spaceousness of the room. My thoughts were twofold: "I'm glad it's not boring." and then "What am I in for?"
I knew of a handful of those "amazing-crazy faith" people. You know the ones who do things like quit their job because God told them to or who got the thousands of dollars they needed at the last minute or who drove across afew states before adding fuel to their car. I've heard the stories. I've talked to those people. The stories were real. And I have always wondered about Sojourner Truth. How could someone live like that just wandering around preaching and singing from town to town. What would become of my reality?
And I remember where in the Bible that phrase came from, or shall I say where I knew I heard it. It was from that sermon about the affects of literature on women's minds by Rosie De Rosset and what she discovered in Habbokok. Other than Joel Osteen's sermon "Your Time is Coming," (which I watched 4 times one difficult day) this sermon was one of the most memorable sermons I've listened to - possibly 8 times. A terrific sermon gets a second hearing, but a great one gets plenty more. I remember that riveting conversation that Habbakok had with God. Not quite like Job, but somewhat Job-ish. I had a sense that life was not going to be the same. No it would not be the same.
And there I was, at that conference which I habitually and accidentally call "Close Encounters". I didn't want to go; didn't have the money. I know I annoyed a few people with my lack of enthusiasm towards a subject that I'm usually zealous about and my laziness to sign up and my saying I was only going to show up for a little bit of it. I was like Pooh when he lost his love for honey. I just wasn't myself.
I needed a word. I've been standing on Psalm 37:23 for that new thing to happen in my life. "If God came through, I knew there was a God." I said to people. What an odd thing to say.
And it was time. The time had come. Yes, I needed to start believing. I needed to believe that God wanted my best - that I was His child - that He had good plans - that He had a place for me. Afterall, that's what the scripture said and what the prophetic voices said.
And I knew the "head-in-the-clouds" people from the "practical" ones and they seemed to say what their temperament was inclined to say. Was it really revelation or just tempermental tendencies? Yet the more mature prophetic voices seemed to be in tune with the Pie-in-the-sky types.
And if life was really that practical there was no hope, so I had no choice but to follow after those who were optimistic. It was a challenge.
So, I went up for prayer and found this one guy with a prayer tag. I told him a sentence or two about my issue. I wanted a prophetic word and therefore was vague and general about my need. He waited and prayed and started to speak. He started mentioning aspects of my life verse, aspects of the verse I was standing on and it was as if he knew the words that God spoke to me throughout the week - in sequence. During that 10 minutes my faith barometer went up and up and up. His words hit the mark. They were not his words, they were "His words."
Later I saw the pray-er sitting in a back pew with this faraway look and a twinkle in his eyes with his head in the Cloud. "It must be great to be used of God in that way." I thought.
And God came through.
Habbakok 2:20
But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. KJV
That was my response when the words came to pass. There was not much to say. There was only that silent praise of awe.
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