Today we have a submission from a reader who recently immigrated from Asia to Australia. He writes…

I want to share a story about a time when I was struggling with financial loss. After changing countries and moving to a place where having a vehicle was a huge need, I wanted to buy a vehicle. Long story short, I bought one and then felt it was the worst decision of my life.

I blamed a family friend who I felt misguided me. I was in agony, because I had lost so much money. I expressed my pain to my family members as the money was part of the final savings we had. I felt I let my father down who died two years ago and had left a little money for us.

Eventually, I felt the need to listen to God. So, I set a time with my mentor where we could listen to God’s voice together. As we listened, I heard God tell me that my deeper problem was fear and shame. I needed to cast aside the fear that I had. About the financial loss, I heard God remind me that he is in control. My mentor was also listening to God and heard that God will reimburse the loss one day in the future.

After a month, I found someone who wanted to buy my vehicle, and so I sold it at a comparatively low price. Getting rid of the vehicle gave me some relief. A few months later, my wife got a new job. After two months, the company where she was working for went out of business. As a result, she received an extra compensation from the company which was almost exactly equivalent to the net loss I faced selling the vehicle.

Just recently, while preparing my income tax return, I found that I am eligible to get a decent amount of money back because my employers deducted more money for income tax than they should have done. The total amount due as a reimbursement is the same amount as the net loss from selling the vehicle.

I am feeling so much better because God is healing my pain. One lesson I am learning is that God is in control, and He cares for me. He might not fix my problems right away as I so often want Him to. But He has a plan for me and that plan is good. I may feel that I have messed up, but He is there to rescue me. I want to trust Him more.

Thanks so much to our reader for sharing this story!

Vehicle photo by Koushik Chowdavarapu on Unsplash

Currency photo by Melissa Walker Horn on Unsplash

This month we have another great submission from one of our readers. Enjoy! Juli writes…

Another Transition

Our family has worked in Latin America since 2014, but right now we are finishing up our home assignment in Germany. At the end of our last term in Ecuador, we were open to hearing from God about our next placement.

We practiced listening to God and invited others to listen with us concerning our future placement. As we prayed with a friend, he shared an impression of us walking alongside people in Costa Rica and asked us to bring this before the Lord.

This listening time with our friend happened right after a challenging time of transition. We had settled back in Germany and helped our three kids to finally feel at home again. As a mother, I didn’t feel ready for a transition to yet another new country. I had a lot of questions and fears, especially around our children facing a new period of change and moving to another place.

The Good Shepherd

My husband and I sat before the Lord, bringing all our thoughts and fears to him, asking him to speak into the situation. As we quieted our hearts, Jesus gave me a picture in response to those feelings about Costa Rica. I saw a shepherd with three little lambs on his strong shoulders and two adult sheep walking directly behind him, step by step.

Jesus was speaking so kindly and lovingly to my heart about my fears and reservations. My heart was touched, and tears began to fall. I could see Jesus as the Good Shepherd of our family, leading and caring for us.

Pondering this picture, I understood that we as parents need to follow him closely. Then we can entrust our children to him for the next transition. He will carry them and bring them safely through it.

In the following weeks we received more words of encouragement from Jesus and from others who listened for us confirming that going to Costa Rica was the next step for us to take. In a few weeks we will leave Germany, our house is becoming empty, and the reality of the transition is hitting home.

Since this special moment with Jesus, I still experienced some times of confusion, especially when people asked about uprooting our kids again. Worries about their well-being and my responsibility for them weighed upon me. I ran to Jesus with these thoughts and each time he reminded me of the Good Shepherd picture. He asked me, Whom do you trust more?

So I have clung to the promise of the Good Shepherd to bring us through this next transition. He will give us wisdom and love to walk with our kids through the hard moments and we can entrust them to him. His ways are good, and he provides for all we need as we follow him.

Picture of a Quichua couple in Ecuador by Marjan Slinger-Volgers on Pinterest

Sketch of the shepherd by Juli

Sometimes the Lord’s word to a person individually has an application to a broader group of people. In this post, I share some of the words the Lord has given me over the past several weeks.

Background

I was starting a computer training program in Asia. The journey has been a little bumpier than I anticipated. We started advertising in early February but didn’t get any students.

Mid-February

Me: Lord, do you have anything to say to me to me about my computer business?

Jesus: You are moving forward, don’t be discouraged. Don’t expect instant results. I am developing you.

A dream

A couple of days later I had a dream. In the dream I was applying for a job and I was sure that I would get it. But I was told that I would have to wait to hear the results of my interview.

Message of the dream: I need to wait. Now is not the time to give up and try something else.

A few days later

Me: What do you have to say about the computer business?

Jesus: I want you to persevere. You haven’t by any means exhausted all the possibilities. Don’t give up too soon.

Me: But what about the sunk cost fallacy?

The sunk cost fallacy is when “a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.” Oxford Dictionary.

Jesus: At that point I will speak to you. Now is not the time to change track and try something else.

Third week of February

Me: (We still don’t have any students.) Anything you have to say to me this morning?

Jesus: Patiently persevere. Don’t focus on the results. Focus on what I have called you to.

February 28

Two people drop into the office and express interest in our advanced computer course. This is the first real interest we have found.

February 29

I was praying with my mentor. I didn’t have a specific question to ask, so we both quieted our hearts and asked the Lord what he had to say. This is what the Lord said to me:

Neil, keep interceding. Your prayers have effect, but they are like planted seeds. You don’t see the results immediately; it takes time for the fruit to come. Often, the fruit comes from your prayers, but you forget that you prayed and so you don’t make the connection.

March

We finally got enough people and we started our first course on March 7.

Lessons

Here are my lessons from the past few weeks:

• A big part of walking with Jesus is persevering. In much of life, we give up way too soon.
• I am a person who likes to see quick results. If I don’t see the results I hope for, I am tempted to move on to something else. The Lord is slowing me down and telling me to keep at it for a while.
• Prayers are like seeds. The fruit often comes much later.

Do you have any other lessons from this series of events? If so, please post them in the comments below.

Snail photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

Hourglass photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Plant photo by Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash

It was Saturday morning, and we were due to fly to the other side of the world—to Toronto—Tuesday evening. This was my second day of feeling sick with all the symptoms of a bad case of flu, or perhaps COVID: fever, sore throat, cough, runny nose, and weakness. I felt miserable. On top of that, a few days earlier, our office had asked me if we could delay our departure for a week. They had been working on our visa and they wanted more time to get our paperwork pending with the government completed. If we left before our paperwork was complete, we could expect to pay an overstay fine of $750 and deal with unpredictable immigration officials while exiting the country. On the other hand, delaying our flight would mean that we would miss a scheduled presentation at a large church, leaving them in a lurch.

I was in a quandary and needed to hear from the Lord. I prayed and the answer I received was, “Don’t change the plan.”

Later that day over lunch, some colleagues asked me, “Aren’t you worried? You don’t have a visa and you are leaving on Tuesday?”

I didn’t know how to answer that question. I wasn’t worried, but I certainly did not know how things would turn out. All I knew was that I had asked the Lord a question and received an answer. My duty now was to obey. Over the next two days, I rapidly recovered from the illness. Then on Monday evening our government liaison officer texted me to say that we had received our visas. I can’t remember ever seeing documents processed so quickly.

I was so thankful that I had listened to the Lord and didn’t change Tuesday’s flight. In case you are wondering, I did get tested for COVID, and the result was negative.

Photo by Kit on Unsplash

I love it when readers submit their stories. One of the Listening to God Newsletter readers shared the following:

I lead a community Bible study group. We meet weekly at a friend’s place to read the Bible and pray together. One day, just as were arriving at our friend’s place, I received a text message saying that my friend was no longer able to host.

I was tired, too tired to make a decision, and wondered if we should just cancel. The first person from our group I spoke with on the street said they were tired as well and wouldn’t mind canceling. Other members were arriving as we stood there, and I was not sure what to do. Finally, I said, “Let’s pray about it”.

As we prayed about the situation, I heard the wordsstill meet enter my heart. These words were very quiet, but they gave me assurance about what to do. I knew my next task was just to work out where to meet. We ended up having a great time of fellowship together.

Being familiar with God’s voice through previous prayer practices helped me to recognize God’s voice in that moment. 

I believe the Lord longs to speak to us. He longs for us to live our lives in communion with him, asking him questions when we don’t know what to do. But listening to God takes a little bit of practice. This is where finding a safe community to practice comes in. Do you have a community where you can practice listening to God?

Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash

This story is from Samuel, a participant in Cohort 2 of the Listening to God Course.

We were deciding on flights for our journey to our holiday destination. Taking the earlier flight would mean less chance of a missed connection in case of a delay. But the earlier flight would also mean a longer wait in the airport—not easy with our two little girls. The later flight entailed a much shorter wait time, but was risky because a delayed first flight would mean an overnight wait in the capital city before we could get to our destination.

My wife and I decided to listen to God about this. I received the impression that we should take the later flight. But after talking some more, we decided on the safer option, and so we booked the earlier flight. The next day the airline called. The earlier flight was cancelled and so they put us on the later flight. The Lord knew all that in advance and he did tell me.

Listening to God is easy, but usually his voice calls us to take a step of faith.

Photo by Pixabay