I was talking to a man the other day from the Ukraine. In the pleasantries, he said his name was Valeriy. As you can image with his accent, I had to ask him to repeat it. I still did not get it. Finally, his daughter leaned over and said that in America it sounds like a girl’s name. We continued from there to have a great conversation without a problem.
The thing was, I did hear Valeriy correctly, but I just did not believe I heard him correctly because in my mind it was a girl’s name. How many times are we like this with God? We hear him correctly, but we just don’t believe that He would say that. This filter in our minds can hinder God’s leading in our lives.
My sophomore year at UNC I was praying about what I should do the following year. My roommate wanted to change dorms to one that would be freshly renovated. I wanted to continue rooming with him, but I had spent a good portion of my year building relationships with people in our current dorm and leading a Bible study there. I also had some thoughts about applying to be a Residence Assistant. Therefore, I remember sitting on my bed going to spend some time praying for God’s leading.
I started by listing out the options that I believed were available to me. “God, should I move to Old West to stay with Andy, should I stay in Lewis, should I apply to be an RA, go to State.” It was so funny that at the end of my list, I felt another option was thrown in which was for me to transfer to the rival school, NC State. I remember laughing thinking it was odd but determination carried me to pray again. Again went my list and again came the other option.
This did not make sense to me. I did not feel it would make sense to my friends or family. Surely God would not say that. Thankfully I listened and transferred. It was not an easy move and I cannot say exactly why it was important for me to follow this call. What I can say is that I met my wife at NC State and I will never regret that decision to listen to God’s unusual leading.
- What is God calling you to that doesn’t make sense?