5 TELL ME A STORY: ROCK CRIES OUT

My broken but healed heart

Tell Me A Story:  Rock Cries Out

#15 in the Series:  Daddy, It's Me--Conversations of an Ordinary Person with an Extraordinary Heavenly Father

This event was originally published on my Joyful Savvy blog on February 7, 2019.  It is another amazing example of how God speaks through nature and I couldn't resist sharing it again here.  Enjoy!

I was out for my (near daily) walk. I was thinking about so many things and praying, trying to get God’s perspective on the many things going through my mind. In particular I was thinking about the things I needed to do to get flowing again on the freedom of the heart ministry (Mustang Heart) and telling the Lord that even though it is something that I think I will love, I could not love it more than him and asking again if I was on the right track.

At that very moment I looked down and saw this rock on the pavement. I started to walk passed it and realized that if I rotated it, it would look like a heart.  Somewhere in my ramblings through life I read about a man that was often encouraged by the Lord by seeing heart-shaped things in nature:  rocks, poop piles, sticks. etc., so I turned around to pick it up.  Then I saw it! It was a heart...a broken heart with a chunk missing and lots of scars, BUT it was a healed heart because all the edges were smooth. 

I picked it up and realized it was my heart. Although it had been broken and scarred, Jesus had healed it and God was letting me know I was on the right track with Him and He loved me beyond measure.

“Praise the Lord. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”      Psalm 147:1, 3 NIV

“The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”      Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

As I walked and meditated on this, I rotated the rock again. This time it took the shape of a boot and I got the impression to keep on walking! Keep on keeping on!  Keep progressing! Do not get discouraged and do not stop!  Not only in the area of the new ministry but in life in general. Don’t get stagnant!

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 3:13-14 NIV

I realized that I still have many things that need to be done and I best be getting at them...a little bit each day. With consistency and regularity--one step at a time or one bite at a time--even a chihuahua can eat an elephant, one bite at a time!

Every day there is something I CAN do...and I declare that what I CAN DO, I WILL DO.  Good intentions do not usually produce results. It is when we put sweat into those intentions (water them!) that fruit results. For me, often that is working on the computer. Sometimes it’s finding a rock on my walk.

More meditating. More touching and feeling that rock and I rotated it once more. I could not believe what I saw. It was unmistakably...a horse head. In fact, it even had a dish face like an Arabian.

I realized I had been trying to MAKE things happen with Angel (my Arabian mare). In my hurry to prepare her for sale I was not being fair to her. I was expecting way too much, way too fast. I had to change my attitude toward her and my approach. I had to stay in the moment with her and not worry about the future. God had that handled. I needed to do what I knew how to do and let Him do what only He cn do.

“Whoever obeys his command will come to no harm, and the wise heart will know the proper time and procedure. For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.”      Ecclesiastes 8:5-6 NIV

In my rush with Angel I had nearly been hurt more than once. I know the proper timing and procedures for success. Even though I am weighed down with a self-imposed timeline, neither God nor Angel acknowledges that. I better just do what is proper and enjoy the process and the success.

Now you may be saying, “God does not speak to me like that!” 

I want to challenge you to ask him to speak and to look for the God winks in your life each day. God doesn’t usually speak to me this way either. But I’m always looking for him to say something to me. Most often it is through his Word. Sometimes it’s through his creation, Sometimes through a person or perhaps through a situation. God is always speaking. The question is: Are we listening?

“For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,”      Psalm 95:7 NIV

PS. I had a very good session with Angel that day and every day since!

April 2019 Update
As I reviewed this to post it here, I realized it was this event that encouraged me to get started on this blog.  You can even see the topics for this series beginning to form that day!

And God had Angel's future handled.   Even though I did get her riding at all gaits and being responsive to leg cues, I did not need to be concerned about her riding  skills...She went to a dear friend of mine who is using her for equine therapy that does not require riding--Angel's expressiveness is the talent that is needed!

God has your future handled too!  And you have just the talent, skills, and experiences that are needed to fulfill your destiny in him as you allow him to free your mustang heart!

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