Because God Told Me To Do It

"I can count on one hand the number of times in my life when I have experienced what I would consider to be a true leading of the Spirit. In each case, these leadings have been characterized by a compulsion to act, fears that I would not be able to live up to what was being required of me, and a deeper sense that I wasn't being asked to do this entirely on my own strength. In any case, I knew that a decision not to act upon my conscience would be like a small death, a failure to allow myself to grow and discover in myself new strengths and courage." ~ Ruth Walmsley, Quaker.

Perhaps you've heard it before. You're talking to a good friend and they're speaking of an action they're planning on taking, and they use those words: "God told me to do it."  Our tendency can be one of skepticism, where we roll our eyes as if to say, "Oh no, not another one!" I personally haven't used these words in a very long time, because I know how they make one sound, but like Ruth Walmsley, I have received leadings or "promptings" of the Spirit. I have more time for people who word it that way rather than "God told me so."

Unlike Walmsley, who wrote that she could "count on one hand" the number of times she experienced these leadings, I have felt for several years that I have been in regular contact with the Spirit, pretty much every day.  These promptings do not come from an outside source, a big-dude-in-the-sky. Rather, they come within my spirit, where I believe God truly dwells.  I'm not going to describe this correctly, but I think it can depend on if you are a person who tends to rely more on what they see and what makes complete sense, or if you're someone who listens to your heart and soul; I have always been the latter (which of course makes me no better than the former).  I am someone who desperately wants to listen for, hear from, and act in response to the Divine.

I'm sure that there are a few things by which you can test if something is "from God." My criteria include:

1. What God seems to be prompting you to do cannot harm yourself or others.
2. It must enhance your humanity.
3. It must help others.
4. It must increase the amount of love in the world.
5. It must be subject to change.

Some people like to think of God as "the Rock" and never-changing, and I understand that. For instance, I believe that God's Love never changes, because love is what God is.  But in many other ways, I think that God is evolving along with us and that she is flexible and spontaneous and can change her mind.  I never again want to be rigid and ideological where God has no room to breathe and I condemn others because their beliefs are not the same as mine.  

So what does God regularly tell me?  There are a few things that I am willing to share:

1. Do NOT be afraid. Release it. Let it go.
2. You are worthy of all the love that you receive.
3. You have much to give to the world.
4. Find your niche and run with it.
5. Do what you're passionate about.
6. Rely on me for your needs.
7. Choose either Zooey Deschanel, Emily VanCamp, or Erin Karpluk for your wife (ok ok, that may not be God)

I'm sure there is more, but those are the core messages I receive from the Divine on almost a daily basis. Not my choice is this...

Will I listen and act, or will I remain mired in the muck and fear? It's my choice.