A Still Small Voice

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? ~1 Kings 19:11-13 KJV~

Last night, I had settled in for the night. My husband was sound asleep next to me, snoring away. The dogs were falling asleep. I was so tired, so I turned off the light to go to sleep for the night. I was looking forward to a restful night’s sleep. Little did I know that was not in the plans for me….

As soon as the light turned off, the dogs starting getting restless and asked to go out. This would not be the final time they asked to go out. In fact, they would end up going out 4 more times before the night was over. It wasn’t because they weren’t feeling well or because they really needed to go. They were just restless and wanted to move around. It was not normal.

After they came in the first time, I settled back down into bed thinking that they would fall asleep as normal, but that didn’t happen. Instead, they started playing with toys and getting into things. They kept taking turns looking out the window and jumping on and off the bed. The kept wondering around the room and playing. I was not going to fall asleep with all of this going on.

My head rested against the pillow, but sleep would not come. Slowly, I hear reminders in my head about people who need to be covered in prayers. One by one, I go down the list of people who have requested prayer and pray for each person by name. As I’m doing this, I’m reminded of others who have requested prayer. Throughout all of the puppy craziness, I continue to pray for those that the Lord lays on my heart. I realize, in my overly sleepy state, that the Lord has chosen to allow the pups to keep me awake so I can pray for my friends and family.

All too often, the activities of day to day life make listening, really listening, to the Lord’s still small voice a bit difficult. While sometimes the Lord uses a 2×4 to get His message across, He often finds other ways to get our attention, but we need to be open to His leading. I know that I don’t always pay attention to things like I should. I’ll be a work in progress until the day that I reach heaven, but I do try to listen. Last night, even though I could have really used that sleep, I am thankful that the Lord allowed me to pray for those who needed prayer. Some people were even laid on my heart that hadn’t requested prayers which usually means that the Lord knows they have a need even when I don’t.

Finally, at 3:00 am, after many prayers had been silently spoken, the pups settled down, a peace settled over me, and I fell into a lovely slumber. Thank you Lord for allowing me to hear your still small voice.