Obey The Nudge

Obey the Nudge

As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.

Can I pray for you in any way?

Kate’s text pinged as I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, contemplating how particularly hard today seemed, how I felt like a failure as a parent after a chaotic, angry morning in my house before everyone was out the door to catch the bus.

Kate always seems to sense when something is sliding sideways in my life. Her texts are often synced to whatever hard thing I’m facing. I smiled through tears as I read her message, loving both her and Jesus in that moment. It is no coincidence that Kate seems to read my mind: she listens to the nudging of the Holy Spirit and is particularly gifted at reaching out in compassion and care to those around her. Her perfectly timed texts remind me that I am not alone, that God sees me in the hard spots, and that he loves me so much that he nudges my friends to reach out.

In my life, it is uncanny the situations I step into with just the right prayer or word of encouragement when I obey God’s nudge. Obeying the Holy Spirit is going on mission with Jesus, serving as his tangible hands and feet in the lives around us. It requires listening to that still, small voice that wells up often, almost as a feeling in our souls and being willing to set aside time in our busy days and to-do lists. It sometimes requires us to be inconvenienced. But it is always worth it. There is rarely a to-do list that cannot be rearranged, but an opportunity to be ambassadors of Christ is something of eternal importance that is fleeting and time sensitive. God continually invites us to be doers of good, to be people who reveal his love and his presence in tangible ways. Let us not get so distracted by the temporal that we ignore the eternal.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Ask the Holy Spirit to nudge you on behalf of others, and then practice obeying that nudge. If you’ve failed, ask for a second chance. We serve a God of second chances.