HE Speaks: Esther's story

Esther is a precious friend that I have gotten to know in the last several months!

I am so so thankful she shared her heart with me so I could share it with you.

I LOVED reading it myself and know you will too.

I pray that her heart will be encouraging to you today, and will be a reminder that God loves to be in conversation with you, and He loves to bring you into a place of peace with Him.

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Hello! I'm so happy
to be here to give Sarah some time to enjoy her family.

I love Sarah. Her
heart is beautiful. She's beautiful. Her daughters are beautiful. Seriously.

My name is Esther and
I blog over at Lovingly
Thrown Together.

When Sarah asked me and
some other friends to guest post, I, of course, said an enthusiastic
"yes!"

She asked if we could
share about this question:

How does God speak to
me?

I've been sitting on
this for days and I really wish I had a concrete answer by now

but, nonetheless, here is what I came up with after some reflection.

source | via

In my every day life,
I think my heart hears God before my brain does.

Sometimes my brain
never even processes God's words... but my heart does.

My life, in the
world's eyes, might be pretty mundane.

I wake up, I drink
coffee, I make breakfast lunch and dinner,

I change diapers, I
go grocery shopping, I clean, etc. etc.

Nothing extraordinary
here.

But I'm a wife and a
mother

and I think those are
two of the most meaningful things one can be

and I know my God
thinks so too.

Those roles can take
over sometimes... okay all the time...

and as much as I wish
I could sit down and contemplate before Him waiting to hear audible words,

I can't and it's hard
to hear Him when a toddler is pleading (whining) for your attention

and your brain is
making a mental note of the pantry items you ran out of

while simultaneously
adding to the day's to-do list.

I am a believer
that God loves you in whatever phase of life you are in.

Often I have to
remind myself that He put me here in this life, in this very instance.

Today is no mistake.

But I can’t take that
love for granted.

A relationship with God, like a relationship with a person,
is a two-way street

and I have to give Him something in return for what He
gives me… which is everything.

I try to get up
before my son in the morning to greet the Lord in prayer time,

even if it's only for
ten minutes,

that short period of
time starts a establishes a conversation that expands throughout the day.

In that conversation
I praise Him, give Him thanks, and then I start to ask for graces.

I ask Him for graces
for the day because I know He will supply them.

He always always
always tells my heart when it's time to start my day.

He speaks to my heart.

He tells me,
"Thanks for these ten minutes, daughter. I will be with you today and
always"

and off I go with a
sense of peace that I know only comes from Him.

Our God is so
understanding. Isn’t he?

During the day when I
cry out to him in frustration, sadness, exhaustion, hunger, happiness, and joy

He's there. Speaking
to my heart. Telling me what needs to be heard.

Supplying me the graces
I need.

Giving me peace.

It's not like I actually
hear a thing but my conversations with God are based on a sixth sense of sorts.

When my heart is
peaceful, I know God and I are in sync.

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Thanks friend. I am so thankful for your beautiful heart!

Esther blogs here, tweets here, and facebooks here