Have you ever heard God speak to you? Perhaps He’s asked for obedience but you’ve been reluctant. Maybe He asked you to walk faithfully with Him and you’ve felt deeply vulnerable.
“The tumour is benign,” my doctor said, as he lifted his eyes from the report, to make eye contact with me. “It sits at the top of your spine and will continue to grow, but for now, will need no further action.”
I left the doctor’s room relieved, after being worried about alternative outcomes. I was grateful to not need to think more on it for now and travelled home to prepare to take my five-year-old daughter to her swimming lesson. The previous few weeks our family had been unexpectedly interstate, and my daughter had missed much of the term. This was significant, as there are limited swimming teachers in our area, and we had waited for more than two years to enrol. I’d already received a reminder that morning, outlining the importance to attend, and I was eager to arrive on time.
I knew we’d need to stop for fuel on the way, as our car’s fuel gauge was showing empty, so we set off early. As I approached a T-junction, left to go swimming, right to go to the fuel station, I had a distinct thought to turn left and head straight to swimming. This thought didn’t make sense to me, as it was likely the car would run out of fuel on the way. I paused to ask God for clarity, and He reminded me of the time He gave Noah precise instructions to build a boat. Noah could have decided not to be led by God, but instead he made the choice to listen and obey. This challenged my own thoughts and whether I would allow God to lead me. In obedience, I turned left and headed straight to swimming.
About 10 minutes into the drive, travelling in a rural area down a straight stretch of road, sheep grazing either side, I had a thought to turn right. Puzzled, I asked God if this thought was from Him, as I couldn’t see a suitable place to make a right turn. God reminded me of the time He asked Noah and his family to enter the boat. Despite Noah and his family never having seen rain before, they believed a whole-world flood would come and chose to follow God’s words to enter. In that, I decided to be faithful and flicked my indicator on, slowing the car down, only to notice a driveway to pull into. As I began to turn into the driveway, my car’s steering became heavy, and my car rolled in safely and came to a stop.
A man had been spraying weeds at the entrance of the driveway and came straight over to offer me help. I explained my car had run out of fuel and he immediately made a phone-call to his father for advice. Amazingly, his father had just left a fuel station and was on his way to his son’s house, to refuel farming equipment. He happily offered to refuel my car. While the man and I waited for his father to come, the man asked me about my weekend plans. Among other things, I shared that I would be attending church. His face lit up, and he told me he had recently gone back to church for the first time in many years. He mentioned he had a few questions about God he’d hoped to ask someone and was thrilled I might be that someone. He quickly acknowledged that my arrival at his driveway was not by accident, without knowing the faith I’d exercised to be in his driveway. For the next few minutes, and during the time it took for his father to refuel my car, we talked about his questions, which, ironically revolved around acting in faith when things don’t make sense.
I arrived at my daughter’s swimming lesson late. So late in fact, the lesson had ended, and a mums-and-bubs lesson was about to begin. Though she was not a bub, the swimming instructor suggested she join in, as to not miss another lesson. This lesson was my daughter’s first and she had a fantastic time blowing bubbles, singing songs and gaining new water confidence. After the lesson, the instructor made comment that coming late worked in my daughter’s favour, as it was a much nicer introduction to swimming for her.
On the way home, my daughter asked if we could drop into her previous play-centre, to see her favourite teacher. This was an unexpected request from my daughter, as she had never asked to visit before. An organised trip for another time seemed more appropriate to me, as I didn’t want to interrupt her teacher at work, assuming she would be busy with staff and children. I didn’t consider the visit to be too important either, yet, despite this, I felt it necessary to go. Uncertain, I asked God for understanding, and He reminded me of the invitation He had provided to all people in Noah’s time to board the boat, however, many did not see the importance. Then once God had led the animals on and all those who chose to enter had boarded (being Noah and his family), He shut the door. For the next seven days, Noah and his family were in a place of vulnerability and open to ridicule, as not a single drop of water fell. Acting in faith is the very thing that saved their lives, but in the short term, it was likely to have felt uncomfortable. With that reflection, I made my way to the play-centre.
As we arrived at the play-centre, to my surprise, so did my daughter’s favourite teacher. She greeted us both with a huge smile and explained that she was briefly dropping off supplies before returning home to continue recovering from surgery. She had had a benign tumour removed from the top of her spine. Her tumour had started small and had grown, causing problems that led to a complicated surgery. She talked about the skilled surgeon who removed the tumour and how she had been unaware of its impact on her quality of life until it had been removed.
I talked to her about my tumour, and she encouraged me to go back to my doctor and ask a few more questions, while sharing her surgeon’s details. As I left the play-centre, strapping my daughter into her car seat, I felt it important to follow-up. When I arrived home, I rang my doctor’s office and made an appointment for the following week.
At the appointment, my doctor listened and responded to my questions and then referred me to the surgeon. After a long wait to see the surgeon, a conversation was had, a decision was made, my consent was given and it was agreed that I would be placed on the surgery’s waiting list to have my tumour removed, being marked as urgent.
Noah wasn’t a perfect man, however, in Genesis 6:9 it says “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” Although Noah’s actions may not have made sense to some around him, he followed God’s instructions to build a boat and enter into it with his family, surrounded by animals. He had the freedom to make different choices, but he acted in complete obedience and faith to God.
After God shut the door of the boat, Noah, his family and all the animals lived inside for 371 days! Despite horrific weather conditions all around, God held them safe, until He opened the door to reveal a bright and beautiful rainbow in the sky as a promise of hope and freedom—one where God claimed us to be His own and vowed to be faithful to us, and in return gave us the opportunity to claim Him to be ours.
I could have chosen to turn right at the junction, purchased fuel, arrive on time to my daughter’s swimming lesson and then driven home. Though in doing that, I would have missed out on a lot. Instead, I was blessed to share God’s love with a man who wanted to hear. I was able to take my daughter to a swimming lesson that suited her ability. My daughter then was able to see her favourite teacher, at the very time the teacher was present, while I was able to hear words of wisdom, that led to making a good health choice.
We are all called to make choices. Some choices are easy to make, while others can feel uncomfortable and place us in a space of vulnerability. A core desire of mine is to walk faithfully with God, despite my own fears, uncertainties, insecurities and doubt. I just need to remember that my ability to be faithful is determined by how willing I am to trust and be obedient to His voice. I hope to say, “yes, I will walk with you today God” even when things don’t make sense.
What choices are you wrestling with? Will you say “yes, I will walk with you God”? Would you like to walk faithfully with God like Noah did? What would it look like for you to walk faithfully with Him today?
Tamika Spaulding is a writer and storyteller at His Herd in Tasmania.
