God's Red Lights

This past weekend I went to a retreat called Living Waters Via De Christo; women of all different ages and walks of life surrounded me.  I went into it thinking, “this will be a nice vacation away from the ordinary pace of life” which, lately, has been quite chaotic.  Honestly, I wasn’t completely there.   

Do you remember those requests I had asked God for a little while back? Well, I am still asking for them and I was holding back from getting too involved in the retreat because in a way I was angry.  Today I am writing to tell you about the ability that God has to speak into your life indirectly.  Now I know there are some people who will say, “I’ve never heard God’s voice.  I don’t hear that loud tone speaking to me telling me what to do.” 

For you, I like to think of it in this way: God’s “voice”, AKA the Holy Spirit, is like traffic control for Christ.  Sometimes you will ask for something and you get the green light, its immediate and you know the direction you are supposed to go and you go from 0 to 60 in 2 seconds flat.  Other times, you get the yellow light which says, take a few steps forward and I will guide you the rest of the way.  While doing so, I recommend you check back with me, God, every so often to make sure we are on the same page.  Then there is the red light.  This, for me, is the worst. 

Think about how inconvenient red lights can be in your life.  In my life, most of the time, God thinks he is pretty funny and on days when I need to be somewhere or I am running around like crazy, I manage to hit every stop light on the way to my destination.  As frustrating as it is, it is in these moments that God reminds me that nothing is so important for me to risk my life getting there – besides Heaven, of course. 

I would like you to think about the purpose a red light serves in the real world.  It keeps people safe, it controls traffic, guides people at the right time and in the direction they need to go.  If you are sitting at a red light it is usually for good reason.  This is how I have begun to look at God’s red lights.

I am sitting at one of those spiritual red lights right now; however, I realize that it is in these moments that I am supposed to let God speak into others peoples lives and give them their “green lights” while I wait for my turn to proceed safely.  God is preparing the road ahead of me and it isn’t quite ready yet.  As such, I am seated at a stoplight and until God gives me that green light or provides an “alternate route” I will be waiting for him to finish up in the construction zone ahead.