Today, I heard God say, “I can do more in 4 hours than you can in 8.”
I was taking a shower and lamenting how much time it took away from my day when I was already behind in starting my day. I was reminded of how grateful I am now that I CAN take a shower. When my daughter was an infant, I would walk into the shower only to have her screaming her head off 5-10 seconds in. During those days, all I wanted was a shower, but I couldn’t have it. So now, having time to take a shower is a blessing in and of itself!
The message I received today was a reminder to spend time with God, no matter how behind I felt. Let Him direct my day. Let Him show me how He can get more done in 4 hours (the only time I felt I had left in my day for work), than in the full 8 that I thought I needed.
So, I finished my shower and tried not to feel stressed about being behind. I just listened to some words from His prophets to lift myself up, and prepared breakfast. I had a choice to make the quick breakfast, or actually cook some eggs (which in reality doesn’t take that much time at all, but when you’re feeling pressed for time, minutes really feel like they matter a lot.).
I finally opted to do both, remembering what God had said to me. I decided to take care of myself in the way I thought He would take care of me.
Then, I called on His presence to see what He had to say.
I didn’t really “hear” Him say anything, but suddenly I had an urge to take out my notebook and draw a diagram. Thinking back, I actually did ask Him a question before this diagram came about. I wanted to know what His plan for my life was. I wanted to see this whole picture, even though I know it’s best to just trust and follow, I still wanted to see a vision of the whole structure of what I was building.
I wrote my name at the top, drew a line that was like the top of an umbrella on both sides from my name going down. I wrote on the left side “art.” I wrote on the right side, “business.”
I then divided the page in half with a dotted line down the center.
Then, I created the other lines on the umbrella, from the left to the right, with different words. The words on the art side referred to my right brain activities, and the business side referred to all my left brain activities. I then mapped each one of these things to a blog or project I have in my queue.
It was my first time God had given me a diagram. I knew it was from Him because this is not something I’d come up with myself.
Then, on top of the page, above my name, I wrote “travel.” Travel didn’t quite fit in within the creative side or the business side, but it was a such an important part of my life that I even created a travel blog and travel Instagram account a few years ago. Hmmm… travel on top? And then I wrote “= play.”
Ohhhhhh, travel = play (for adults). Since adults don’t really “play” like kids, travel is our version of play. And then I thought of the word “inspiration.”
Travel is were I get my inspiration from, outside of God, that is. It made sense that travel was on top.
Then, I drew a cloud around my name, and above my name, I wrote JESUS. Jesus and I were together in that cloud. What a beautiful image.
So, what I gathered from this diagram is this.
- I need travel to fuel me with fun, like play does for children.
- I’m always walking with Jesus with my entire plan, and He is always with me, in one cloud together.
- Together, we create all these different projects in my life… and for me, God wants me to work both in the art/creative realm (which makes sense for my skill set and training), and business (which is what I’ve been wanting to create since college).
The coolest part was that He mapped each topic to each project, and while I was filling this diagram out with my projects, I noticed an empty spot… a missing piece. That was an opportunity for another course I had purchased and temporarily put on hold. I suddenly found an idea on how to proceed with that course again!
This is how God works with me. He’ll work with you in whichever way works for you.
Sometimes He speaks to me in the form of thoughts, sometimes feelings, sometimes dreams, sometimes my writings, sometimes through something I read, or watch, or through people, or videos I find, and now I see, He can also communicate with me with a diagram.
After this experience, I had a thought about one of these pending projects, and went to go get my iPad that was charging. Instead of coming back to my table where I was working, I suddenly had this urge to write for a blog I had not yet created.
I heard, “You can write blog posts before you create your blog.” What an idea. I was planning on setting up this new blog idea (given to me by God, I’m sure, as it was nowhere on my radar) in the next 2 weeks. But, in the meantime, I had so many ideas and thoughts swirling in my head. I felt such peace to just have an opportunity to write something down and see what came through.
As I sat down on the chair that was right next to where my iPad was charging, and started writing the first blog post for that blog, I started weeping. As I was writing, God was healing me from my pains and traumas of the past that I was writing about.
I took myself back to those years, 10 years ago. There were still unaddressed emotions that were coming to the surface, and God was dealing with them now. I wept, I wrote, I gave my heart into my writing, and hoped that once it was published, that it would be found by just the right people that needed to hear my words so that they didn’t feel so alone on their journey.
God’s Projects Move Forward
When you give your time to God, it can go like this. What you planned is not necessarily what’s at the top of His plan. His plan rises to the top, and His most important projects are the ones that get fulfilled first.
I felt that this new project that He had me working on would ultimately become my true calling and purpose in life.
There are so many ways to share your gifts with the world, but I feel there is a particular group of people that God has assigned each one of us to serve. After I wrote that blog post, I suddenly felt that the main purpose in my life was to serve this audience, and that all my other blogs were supportive blogs to help this person in other areas of their life.
What a revelation for me!
All I can say now is that I am so grateful that I have found Jesus. Not the idea of Jesus, but the REAL Jesus… the one that heals my heart, takes away my burdens, and loves me unconditionally. I am so grateful that I’m out of the darkness and into the light, and on this journey I am healing step by step, being led to what God had designed me to do in my life.
It is such a freeing feeling know that I can trust God completely with my life. I don’t have to strive (unless He tells me to go for it), and I don’t have to try to control everything (because I can’t).
I just have to surrender to His will, the yield to His most important message for me today, which might also be for you, is “He can do more in 4 hours than I can in 8.” How true.
Give God that time to do His will, and you will not only get what He wants done, but also what you wanted to get done too. It’s a team effort, and God is always on your side. What an amazing God we serve!
