THE POWER OF LISTENING

Have you ever been in a very emotionally difficult situation? The death of a loved one? Bad news from the doctors? A child walking in darkness? During those times, we have all experienced well-meaning, advise from those who are trying to help make us feel better. Sometimes we have even been the one rambling on with advise, and rattling off scripture in an effort to encourage those who are hurting. I have been on both sides of this fence in my lifetime, and God has taught me a simple, yet profoundly powerful lesson: LISTEN. Unless God has given you a specific word to speak, the most powerful and loving thing you can do is listen.

I remember being in Hospital Ministry and getting calls in the wee hours of the morning to come minister to families in the ER who had just lost a loved one. The first time I was called in, I rehearsed exactly what to say on the way to the hospital, reciting just the right scriptures. . . I wanted to do this just right. After 5 minutes of me rambling on with my empty, useless 'words of wisdom', getting blank stares from the family, I took a deep breath, dropped my head and said, "I'm sorry. I'm not very good at this. Can I just sit with you all for a while?" I sat and put my arms around some of them, passed them tissues, looked in their eyes as they told stories of this family member's life. I LISTENED. And in the end we all prayed together. And each of them in their own way, let me know how much it meant to them that I did that. As I drove home a few hours later, I remembered all of the rehearsing I had done in the car on the way there, and I had to laugh. I said, "Lord, it's that easy? I mean, this takes all the pressure off. I just have to LISTEN?" And He spoke so clearly to my heart, "Andi, they don't need you to have all of the answers. They don't need you to make things better. You can't. Nothing you say will change their situation. They need love, and comfort. They need to be able to talk about and cry and deal with their deep pain. They just need you to listen."

Sometimes I think we can get so caught up in trying to have all the answers, that we forget to represent THE Answer to people. Jesus Christ. Instead we represent all of our religiousness and Bible-knowledge and piety, and we think we are doing people a favor. We have brought Jesus no where near to their pain and suffering. We have left Him completely out of it.

When my Dad passed away I was devastated. My brother called and told me and I dropped the telephone and fell in a heap on the ground sobbing. I had never hurt so deeply in my life. I couldn't stop crying. And it was from the deepest parts of my gut, crying out. I cried out to God standing in my front yard looking up at the stars. I sat on my front porch swing and held my stomach and doubled over in pain. The deepest emotional pain I can ever remember feeling. My daughter sat next to me and just put her hand on my back. She kept it there while I expressed how hurt I was, how much I loved my dad and how much I would miss him. She did not try to give me the right answers, or tell me it was going to be OK, or tell me I wasn't really trusting God. (really people?). She gently and quietly let me know she was there, and that meant more to me than any words or advise ever could.

Listening is the most powerful gift we can offer people who are facing life altering situations. But, when we do open our mouths, the most powerful words we can speak are those we have heard directly and clearly from God Himself. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Our job is not to impress people. It is to bring healing from God to their hurting hearts. Last week I found out my Marine son is training to go to war in Afghanistan. I sent out a prayer request through email to close friends and family, including my Pastor. I am so very blessed to have a Pastor who will only speak in these situations what He hears God saying. If he doesn't hear from God, he is not going to say something just to try to make you feel better. He knows the effort will be vain and the words without power to heal. He is a great listener. He sent me back an email, probably no more than 10 words, every one of them direct from Heaven. And those words gave me EXACTLY what I needed to hold on to through this deployment. And as I pray and search God's heart in those words, it is opening up so much more to me that God has in this. When I sent out the email I rambled on about the war in Afghanistan and how intense the battle is getting. I talked a lot. I needed to. I needed to express to those I am entrusting to pray for my son and for us, his family, to understand fully the gravity of the situation. He emailed back and offered the answer God gave him to give me. And it has already brought so much comfort and strength.

So, let go of "performance pressure", and become a listener. It is the most loving thing you can do for hurting people. And trust God to give you the right words to speak, IF He thinks you need to say anything at all. Trust Him to bring the comfort and healing. He will come through every time, even if all you do. . . is listen.

NUGGETS

I decided to compile a group of some of my status updates from Facebook over the past 12 or 13 months. This group consists of the updates that I wrote as God was speaking to me and teaching me. They are all mine, I decided not to use the status' where I quoted other people. So it's all original. I hope you enjoy them, and are ministered to by them!

~The world is not impressed by your words, how much you know, how spiritual you sound or how many scriptures you can quote! What impresses a lost
and unbelieving world is a demonstration of the power of God to meet their needs both physical and spiritual in miraculous, mind blowing ways! If Jesus
got people's attention through healings, deliverances, raising the dead, and performing miracles of provision, all before their eyes. . . what makes us think
we can persuade people with our smooth words and abundant head knowledge?? Maybe you haven't noticed, but it's not working!!~

~If everything we say and do is dependent on, or influenced by man's opinion of us, we will never do great things for God! Be singularly focused when
following His lead, and the world will see and hear Jesus Christ in you! Never quit!~

~While we are not to pursue signs and wonders, Jesus clearly stated that signs and wonders will pursue those of us that believe. . .then He told us what
those signs would be. . . if we are not seeing them in our lives, it's like a warning light that something is awry. Maybe we should be checking under the
hood today!!~

~DOUBLE is the LOWEST level of multiplication! God is the God of multiplication. What are you believing Him to multiply for you this year? Growth in
your relationship with Him? With others? People you reach with His Good News? Ministry opportunities? Giving opportunities? DOUBLE is the LEAST
He will do! How much can ...you believe Him for? Because He will go FAR over and above every time if you only believe!~

~No matter how cleverly disguised, gossip is poison! Have you ever found yourself treating someone differently, avoiding them, or thinking differently
about them because of something you heard from someone else? Guess what! You have tasted the poison of gossip. . . and swallowed!~

~Let people think and say what they want about you; the only thing that really matters is what God says about you. And then, well, try not to be too
creeped out that they would be that bothered with everything you say and do.~

~Knowing we are loved OUTRAGEOUSLY by the Creator of all things. . . what is our response? What should it be? Something to ponder. . ~

~I absolutely LOVE the sound of the constant *ding* *ding* *ding* as the enemy hurls his fiery arrows at me, they hit my shield of faith, and fall dead to
the ground!! *plunk* It is music to my ears!~

~~ONLY BELIEVE~~

~A difficult, sacrificial, unpopular, or inconvenient task is no excuse for failing to perform a divinely assigned duty. GOD chooses where we are called to
serve; we choose whether or not to respond in obedience to that call.~

~If the sin in your own heart, whatever that may be, does not grieve you more than that which you so easily see in others, something is gravely wrong.~

~My God is Semper Fi!~

~Strategic frontline intercession! The first to engage the enemy, and th last to leave, cleaning up the mess left after slaughtering the forces of darkness!~

~Unforgiveness is a spiritual poison. . . are you partaking today?~

~One of the greatest and most widespread deceptions in the Church today is that of self-importance.~

~Criticism of other's words or actions is at best the polar opposite of love and springs from the very roots of pride and unforgiveness.~

~I think we do people a real disservice when we judge them before we find out what they might possibly be facing in their life at any given time.~

~Stop looking for ministry opportunities inside the church building or off in another land. . . look around you and you will find you are smack dab in the
middle of a mission field right where you are!~

~The best advise my daddy ever gave me: "Close your mouth, you'll look more intelligent."~
~Every day God gives us choices; to follow His way, or our way. . . the way we choose tells Him MUCH about how deeply we love Him. . . or not. ~

~SOMEBODY has to be a demonstration to the World that the Word of God WORKS!~
~God is up to something BIG! It's the way He does things!~

~Flaky is not a fruit of the Spirit. . . it is a fruit of self-importance!~

~We are not truly free, until we are free from the need to impress other people.~

~ Crisis + Worship = no more crisis!~

~ I QUIT!! I quit trying to be perfect! I quit wearing a mask! I quit trying to please people! I quit worrying about what others think of me! I QUIT!!~

~Well will you just look at what the Lord has done?~

~ It may be simple and plain, or it may be elaborately decorated; it may be dirty, or it may look sparkling clean; it may be made of paper, or of the finest
godl; it may be small, or very big and roomy. . .but the bottom line is a box is a box and God won't fit in it! Not mine, or yours!~

~Hey! I have a great idea! Let's find out what God meant when He said NOTHING is impossible to them who believe!~

~When the church becomes an institution, we, as the Body of Christ run the risk of becoming institutionalized. . . prisoners embedded within the
organization or business of that structure. Focus on Christ, and Christ alone will ensure our freedom from the chains of imprisonment to anyone or
anything but Him! TRUE freedom can only be found in giving CHRIST our all!~

~When you determine to see people through the Cross and Blood of Jesus Christ that has redeemed and cleansed them from ALL sin, it is impossible to
see their faults. If what you do see when you look at them is their faults and failures, as God for a new vision, HIS vision, that sees us all through the shed
blood of Christ that by faith sees those lives transformed.!~

~What do I want, need and crave more than the very air I breathe? The Person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in me, on me, around me. . . filling me with the
very life and breath of God! Without Him I spiritually suffocate. Breathe upon me Breath of God!~

~To presume to know the heart motives behind anyone's actions or words is prideful judgement at it's worst.~

~Before we can walk in the fulness of our destinywe must have the revelation of who we are and Whose we are.~

~When my children need me, as their mother I don't sit back and tally what they have done for me, or whether or not they have lived up to my
expectations, or if they deserve my attention. . . my children have my ear and my heart because they are my children. . . they don't have to 'earn' that.
That is their BIRTHRIGHT!. How much greater a parent is the Father God!?~

~Your personal experiences neither serve to prove or disprove the Word of God. It stands as TRUTH. Yet, when men fail to recieve God's promises
for theirs or their loved ones lives, they choose to twist the Word of God, make their own interpretation of it, and create a new doctrine; excusing their
own failure in exchange for blaming and compromising God's Name and character in their words and declarations.~

~STOP signing for the packages the enemy keeps sending you! 'MY arthritis; MY diabetes; MY bad knee; I HAVE the flu; MY OCD, MY depression.
. . WAKE UP!! You are signing on the dotted line with your mouth!~

~God is in the business of breaking strongholds and bringing freedom!~

~A true passion for Christ will will always result in a passion for His Bride! We will not let worldly things keep us from her, we will pursue with fiery
determination to be a part of her through fellowship with her members. Not for religious appearances, but because we cannot help ourselves but be
outrageously in love with her, as Jesus is!~

~If you leave a newborn baby to feed itself, you can't very well blame it for the mess it makes, and for eating things it shouldn't. Newborns need parents.
Church, who is watching the babies?~

~Press in! There is much, MUCH more!~

~When you ask the Lord to open your eyes to see, you had better be ready for it! Because when He does it will slam you on your face in travailing
intercession!~

~Sometimes I wish I could pray the sugary sweet, flowery, eloquent prayers that I hear so often. But God put a sword in my hand, combat boots on my
feet, set me on the frontlines of the battlefield and said, "Tear it up girl!" And tear it up I will! Running TO it!~

~So what are you doing with the message you heard in church this week? There are two choices; application or apathy. . .choose wisely!~

~There is no need to know the details of a situation to pray for it. That's what the Holy Spirit does! Pray in the Spirit and you are like a sniper hitting
targets NO ONE knew were there with deadly precision! And another plus. . . you are also not tempted to gossip and brag about what you know! See
how God's got our backs all the way around?~

~YOU are important to God!! There is no such thing as insignificant in His family! There is no 'least' except in man's eyes; and if you feel that is how
people see you, REJOICE! Because God says the 'least' is the GREATEST where He is concerned! People create 'levels' of importance and
significance, but GOD created us all equal! Men, women, black, white, tall short, it doesn't matter. . . YOU are important to God!~

~There are two sides to every story, and you can count on 99.9% of both sides being exaggerated significantly, any guilt being denied and projected on
the other party; and a sob story so dramatized you'd swear you can hear violins playing off in the distance. My advise. . . .find the humor in it all and stay
out of the line of fire! SANITY 101~

~False humility is pride in it's very worst form, for it is claoked in the robes of deception.~

~God, Your Word leaves us with no excuse.~

~When you have been with God, there is no need to announce it; When He is doing a deep work in your life, you won't need to tell people; The evidence
will be undeniable to everyone who comes in contact with you. . . and the evidence will not be in words. . . .Shhhhhhhh. . .let HIM shine!~

~If you have ever been present when God performed a miracle or healing, you know how praise just absolutely erupts! You can't help it! I was thinking
today about the thousands that followed Jesus, and He was doing miracles, healing ALL manner of disease and raising the dead. . . I am willing to bet it
was quite noisy around Him! I have serious doubts that it was quiet and reserved. . . . I'm just sayin. . .~

~Never, never, NEVER get caught up in defending the call that God has placed on your life! That is not your job. No, not even when it is questioned by
the critics! Jesus never defended His call and purpose on this earth, He just kept DOING IT! When you get into a defense mode, your heart will
become hardened and your effectiveness in that call is compromised greatly. JUST KEEP WALKING IT OUT! God will take care of the rest!~

~Do you realize that as a Christ Follower your resources are INEXHAUSTABLE!?~

~When we choose to walk in forgiveness, not only are we obeying a command of God, and setting ourselves free from the burden and chains that
unforgiveness brings; But as we forgive and forget the past we help to keep the Body of Christ strong, walking in unity, and knit together in LOVE, so
that we can actually be accurate representatives of a forgiving Savior to the world!~