When is the last time you actually listened to God

When is the last time you actually listened to God and didn’t actually get what you were hoping for, but you still listened?  Yesterday I was shopping for a pair of pants.  Normally this kind of activity is emotionless for a male, but I must admit that shopping for pants is difficult for me, as the great Kevin James once said (King of Queens star), “You might say I have a weight problem.”

Shopping for pants simply throws this problem in my face each time I try to button up another pair of pants that don’t fit!

Anyway, I really needed a new pair of pants so I spent quite a bit of time praying (silently) to God about helping me find a pair of pants that would fit and make me feel like Brad Pitt (and not the version from Fight Night).  I listened intently, I really did, and felt God pulling me from store to store.

After two-hours of shopping I was nearing my wits end, and was ready to quit when I prayed again and truly felt God calling me to Macy’s to look one last time.  It was like this dramatic sensation that was telling me not to quit, not yet, the pants are right around the next bend.  Ever felt that way?  I did, and I was sure that the pants were going to miraculously fall from the sky in Macy’s and bond themselves perfectly to my lower half.

Macy’s was a total bust, unless of course God wasn’t actually wanting me to find a pair of pants.  I realized something important standing in the isle at Macy’s.  I truly felt God was speaking to me and encouraging me, even though there were no pants.  It was like God wanted to know if I was truly ready to listen to Him, even when my requests were not being granted.  Am I only going to listen when the outcome is what I want?

I walked out of Macy’s triumphantly, and not because I found a pair of pants, but because I felt that I had truly listened to God and obeyed, even though it was frustrating, tiring, and humiliating - I still listened and followed what I felt He was wanting me to do.  That is a good day if you ask me - and you’re probably not - but I thought I would write it any way.