Taking our relationship to the NEXT LEVEL

For some time now I have felt the Lord tugging at my heart begging me to get closer to him. I've had a relationship with him, but it seems like right now God wants our relationship to be taken to the next level. It reminds me of when you start dating someone new and then after some time goes by that question comes up - are we ready to take our relationship to the next level? What is the next level? What does that entail? And oddly enough that's how I feel about my relationship with God right now. I feel like God and I have been "dating" in a sense. We have been getting to know each other and we've shared some intimate moments together, but we aren't competely open with each other. We aren't in a fully committed relationship either. (And I am aware that it is ME who is the one who hasn't fully committed and hasn't fully opened up yet). Right now though, I feel God saying "it's time to take our relationship to the next level".

One of the things that I've asked myself is what does this "next level" look like? How do we go from being where we are now to going to be something more? I don't have a complete answer for this yet, but I do know that God is slowly revealing to me the type of relationship he would like from me. I'll share an example with you.

A few weeks back I decided that since it was my goal to be like Jesus I really should study the man to see what he was like. Now, I've read the gospels before, but this time I REaLLy wanted to study it. I wanted to discover the true character of Jesus. So I decided that I would re-read the gospels and try and figure this out. I admit that at first it wasn't easy trying to figure out how I was going to study Jesus. I tried a few different ways, and none of them seemed to be right. So I decided I would start off with reading the book of John, but it took me a little while to jut read the first few chapters. I kind of felt guilty that I was taking so long to get through it. But this week I re-opened my bible and I started to look for where I had left off (so that I could pick right back up again). After I read my notes from the first three chapters and I was prepareing to start reading chapter 4 something just struck me. I think God was telling me not to move forward. I was drawn to a passage I had read the week before.

John 3:29-30
"29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who atend the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and he is full of joy when he hears the brideroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater, I must become less."

Now when this verse struck me, I'll admit I didn't understand it fully. But something inside of me just screamed out that this verse was important. I had decided that week that I was going to research the verse and blog about my new found knowledge. So the very next day I began to google the passage and try to make sense out of it. But I realized that the more research I did the more confused I got. I know that doesn't make any sense, but I just thought I understood the verse for the most part when I started, and in researching it I began to question if I had ever really understood the verse in the first place. As I was writing I received a visit from my grandfather which put my whole research/blogging to a halt. And after he left I was no longer motivated to continue my thoughts. So I stopped.

The next time I really looked at the verse was this week in my car during my lunch hour. I just started writing. And God taught me what he wanted me to hear out of this verse. God wanted me to hear about friendship and the kind of friendship we should have with Jesus. John the Baptist had an awesome friendship with Jesus. He had that friendship where he waited patiently to hear Jesus. He had that type of friendship where he was content when he heard Jesus. He was the type of friend who said it's not about me, but about him. Let him be more!! Wow!!!

I realized that the friendship/relationship I had all this time with Jesus was not a very good one. I was the type of friend who drained you. My friendship with him was one that whenever I went to him it was to lay all my problems out for him. It was a friendship that was all about me! If you've read any of my previous blogs you'll learn that it is only now, after 11 years of being a christian that I'm truly hearing the voice of God. And I think it's because I wasn't patiently waiting to hear his voice (which isn't surprising when you think about it, because I'm not a really patient person). I was expecting him to answer me at that second. I wasn't willing to just sit there in silence and not move until I heard him. And I really don't think that ever in my life had I made God more than me. I know that this sounds horrible, but I'm truly being honest with you. I have been a bad friend to Jesus. It was a one sided friendship. Jesus was there for me, I wasn't there for Jesus. I wasn't always there to listen to him. I would get upset or hurt when he told me things I didn't want to hear, even if they were true about myself.

So what does this next level look like with my relationship with God? Like I said before, I'm not 100% sure. But I do know that it includes me being a better friend. It includes me sharing all my feelings, fears, hopes, sins, etc with God. It's ALSO about me listening to him, no matter how hard it is to swallow. The next level includes me becoming less and Jesus becoming more.

I learned something else while I was trying to figure out this whole passage. I learned that so many times when we are looking for answers we "research" our questions, just as I did with this passage. Now I'm not saying that this is wrong. But what I did learn is that we have the masterminds ear! We can ask our Creator to make it clear to us. God spoke all this to me while I was in my car with no computer, no dictionaries, commentaries, etc. It was as if he was telling me, Nadine rely on me. Come to me for answers. And when you do, I will make it clear to you.

I know that sometimes hearing God and what he has to say to us doesn't always make a lot of sense. And sometimes HOW he teaches us things is just crazy (have you read my blog about the squirrel?!). But one thing I've learned is that if we trust Him, He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I'll keep you posted on how my new "love affair" with Jesus is going! :o)

As cautious as a squirrel!

Today I made friends with a squirrel. I don't know if that's what he would consider me, but I think we were both equally entertained by each other. I met my new friend while I was eating lunch in my car. He was in a tree that was about 20 feet in front of me. When I first saw him he was making his way down the tree trunk. At about the same time I noticed him he stopped in his tracks and he stayed in that hold position for quite some time.

I've been doing a study on becoming a woman who listens to God and one of the ways that it says that God can speak to us is through nature. In the past few weeks I've had God speak to me in many ways. He has spoken to me through scripture, prayer, people and circumstances. I have never heard God through nature and was beginning to believe that I would never be able to hear him in this way. The author of the devotional I'm reading always shares these great stories about how God taught her something through nature. I must admit I was a little envious. Why wouldn't God speak to me in this way? One of the other things that I learned in the study was to ask God to help me hear him daily. God is speaking to us all the time, a lot of times, we just aren't listening. So when I saw the squirrel I prayed! God, teach me something through this squirrel!

So I focused on the squirrel for the next 30 minutes and tried to watch his every move, waiting for God to speak to me. I realized that as soon as my eyes met the squirrel's he paused. And he didn't move for quite some time. The only part of him that moved was his tail waving in the wind. After a few minutes he made his way back up the tree. Odd, he was half way down the tree when I spotted him. Why would he go back up? After he made his way back up the tree he just laid in the branches. It was then that I noticed that squirrels have fur that actually camouflages into the tree bark. I figured the squirrel was just resting. As I took my eyes off of him for a few seconds to take another bite of my food the squirrel practically disappeared! He had shifted his body to the other side of the tree. If it weren't for the wind blowing the fur on his tail I probably would have never spotted him. He stayed like this for a while, and eventually turned back towards me. Then he started staring at me! I didn't think he had noticed me since I was a good distance away in my car.

We stared at each other for a while and then he made his way down the tree and into the surrounding grass area below. After a few moments in the grassy area he took off to his next destination. Where he was going, I have no clue. But God spoke to me.

After finishing my lunch I researched squirrels and found out that part of their defense mechanism is their ability to camouflage and the ability to move quickly, like in the blink of an eye. The squirrel knew that he had to move. But he also knew that there were potential dangers (aka me!). So he proceeded with caution. He needed to make sure that he was able to fulfill his mission avoiding harm if possible. He was actually studying me as much as I was studying him. After he concluded that I was no harm to him, he went on his merry way.

Watching this squirrel taught me so much. One of the things I learned was that we need to proceed with caution. The bible says in Ephesians 5:15-16:

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

If we don't make wise moves, we face danger. I also learned that we need to use our defense mechanisms. What are they you ask? It's our growing relationship with God. A growing relationship is key. How do we grow? Spending time in prayer and scripture. Meditating on God's word. Asking God to reveal himself to you in every situation and circumstance.

A lot of times we plan our next move but we forget to keep God in the logistics. God has called me and my husband to move away from our family to help re-plant a church. God has confirmed multiple times to us that this is what we are supposed to do. We have decided to obey God and move in August. Now imagine what would happen if we decided to just pick up and move. Could we face potential dangers along the way? YES! So we must proceed with caution. We must continue to seek God as we plan the details of our move. In the same way, the squirrel knew where he needed to go. But just because he knew what his next move was didn't mean that he just went. He waited, patiently, and used his defense mechanisms to make sure that he was able to make his move safely.

When God calls us he reveals his plan to us step by step (Psalm 119:105). We need to be patient to see what (and when) that next step is. And we need to remember to use our defense mechanisms.

Ephesians 5:1 says:

1Be imitators of God

Jesus had a mission on earth. He was to come to this earth, share God's love, and then be sacrificed so that those who believed would have salvation. Jesus didn't just come to this earth with that "big picture" mission and make his move. He started off every morning by spending time with God in prayer. In the same way, whenever we are about to make a "move", no matter how large or small, we need to remember to keep God in the details. God won't just give you the big picture and expect you to figure out the rest. He'll guide you through the entire way, you just have to open up your ears (and eyes) and listen.

So the next time you are ready to make a move, stop and remember the squirrel. Be wise and proceed with caution.