Real Hope: Learning to ListenSampel

## Ears To Hear A few years ago, I decided to buy a green Mazda. The car wasn’t available straight away, so I had to wait a few weeks. In that time, almost every time I was on the road, I saw a green Mazda. It seemed like they were everywhere and had become the most popular car overnight. Was that the case? No, it wasn’t. But because I was excited about my new car and was aware of that model, my eyes were instantly drawn to one when it was on the road. Hearing and seeing God can be the same. When we seek God and seek His voice, we start to see and hear Him in everything. As we hear the gentle prompt of the Holy Spirit, our eyes start being drawn to opportunities He has placed around us. We start seeing Him move in circumstances and situations. We start noticing the answered prayers. His grace and peace become more evident. Was God silent before? No, He’s been speaking all along, but we missed it because we weren’t listening. We weren’t actively seeking God’s voice and prompting. There’s much that God wants to lavish on us and share with us, but unless we listen to His voice, we’ll miss it. For us to really hear God’s voice, we need to actively seek Him. Be still before Him and ask the Holy Spirit to open our ears so that we may hear Him. To open our eyes to see what He is showing us. It’s in this posture that we really hear from God. Here, ears and heart open, God shares His direction for us and His love for us. And it is here, in this quiet place with God, that we understand His heart for us and others. #### Written by LEILA ARMSTRONG