In Your Hands...

     Yesterday, during class, a verse was brought up that really hit me. Sometimes God does that, and it reminded me of a quote from C.S. Lewis that has really helped me through the last month. In writing to a friend, Lewis once said:

I don’t doubt that the Holy Spirit guides your decisions from within when you make them with the intention of pleasing God. The error would be to think that He speaks only within, whereas in reality he speaks also through scripture, the church, Christian friends, and books.

     Lewis believes that not only does God speak to us from inside through the Spirit, but He also speaks from outside through the Spirit. In my experience, I've seen this quote ring true. God uses all of life to speak to us. And after all, why shouldn't He? I mean, He is the creator. Everything we know of in this life belongs to Him, so why wouldn't He use what is already right in front of us to speak to us about the One who is always above us?

     If you've talked to me just a little bit during the last month, you've probably heard me talk about my amazing girlfriend Karis. We started courting a little over a month ago now, and I've been praying since we started that God would reveal His will for the direction of this relationship. And God hasn't failed to show me something everyday that reveals more and more what His plans for Karis and I are. I think Jeremiah 29:11 describes it rather nicely:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." (NLT)

     Plans for good. He has some pretty good plans for Karis and I in the future. And He has begun to give me a glimpse of what some of those plans are. How? Through His Spirit. That verse I mentioned at the start was John 16:13. And it's one of three verses that popped out at me today. I'll refer to the other two if the need for them appears.

     John 16:13 says:

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (NKJV)

     The word for truth here is the Greek word aletheia (al-aye-thi-uh). It means to disclose something, or to reveal something for what it truly is. Guide is hodegeo (hod-ay-geh-oh) and this one means to "show the way." So...literally, this passage says: the Holy Spirit will show you the true way. In other words, the Holy Spirit will show you God's will for your life, the true path you should take. Does the Spirit speak only what He wants to speak? No, He speaks what the Father tells Him to.

     So if we take what C.S. Lewis said about God speaking through life, what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, and add just a bit of logic, we come to a rather interesting conclusion. When God speaks to us, we may hear His voice from within, from scripture, fellow Christians, church services, books, music, etc. and yet, despite the diversity of from whence the words came, they will all speak to the same truth. God guides us to the path He wants us to walk, our true path, by using everything around us to speak to our prayerful questioning.

     This is what I've experienced in my life recently: God guiding me along His will for my life by using the circumstances I find myself in, the people I talk to, the music I listen to, the books I read, my time in prayer, and my time in His word. As I continue to seek Him, He continues to guide me. And right now...that guiding is towards whatever the future may hold for Karis and I. And that brings me to the title of this post...

     I was listening to Falling Up's Crashings album yesterday, and I ran across a song I hand't heard in awhile that fits perfectly with my life right now. The song is called "Falling In Love" (bet no one saw that coming :P )
Here it is if you want to listen to it:

     This song is true of two things at once, which makes it even more awesome. Not only does it describe how I feel towards Karis, but it also describes how I feel when it comes to my relationship with God. The chorus for this song is simple, yet very meaningful. "All of my dreams and my passions are in your hands." All of my dreams and passions are in God's hands. And it's only when I take His hands and let Him lead me to where He wants me to go that those dreams and passions become reality. So, it's all in Your hands, God.