Listening prayer has been something new for me this year… I think our most common assumption about prayer is:
PRAYER = us TALKING to God
and
PRAYER ≠ us LISTENING
We forget that relationships are made up of both—talking AND listening. And our relationship with the Lord is no exception to this! I was first introduced to listening prayer in Uganda, during our training camp week when we went on a “treasure hunt.” I remember my stomach fluttering a little in nervousness as I wondered “what if I don’t hear from Him?…am I less of a Christian?…is my relationship with Him strong enough for me to hear??” Listening prayer almost sounds too simple to work, but I learned to literally just sit quietly, asking God to speak to me…show me something (because I’m a visual person)…or give me something…a word…a color…anything. It’s been crazy to see the ways that God has come through this year, and I have accumulated about a million stories to share… but for today, here’s a story from Nepal.
My team and I had been trekking into the villages of the Lampang region of the Himalayas, which was a challenge after being ill and losing weight/strength the previous month. August is also monsoon season in Nepal, which made our trek soggy and a little more unconventional than the average tourist trek. Our third day of trekking was from one village to another, via a jungle trail that happened to be full of…{ick}…leaches. 6 girls + leaches = an average 5 hour trek turning into a 10 hour trek. Multiple freak out moments occurred, and there may or may not be photos of ankles that look like a Halloween horror film. Needless to say, when we arrived at the village, we were exhausted and no one really wanted to relive that day again. The next morning, our guide, Sujan, told us that there was an option of going back in a jeep instead of trekking back through the jungle. Our immediate response…um, yah! Our second response…let’s see what God says. We have all learned this year that distinguishing between what our flesh wants and what God says in listening prayer is challenging, and not letting our flesh sway what we “hear”…doubly challenging.
#nepaltrekkinglife
So our team takes some time to sit together and listen to the Lord on what He wants us to do. My prayer went something like this: “God, I know…that You know…what I want. But please give me something…anything…because I want to follow Your will and plan, not mine.” After a few moments of silence the Lord gave me a very vivid visual–which to be honest, at the time scared the pants off me because it seemed very morbid. The vison looked like me lying on my back, on top of my backpack, floating down a winding river (kinda like the ones we saw at the valley between the mountains)…and I heard the words “follow your team.” Side note, trekking in monsoon season is not recommended because it is wet and slippery, but also because the rain causes landslides…and there had been many during our time in Nepal. So my automatic-worse-case-scenario brain thinks “omg we are going to die in a landslide and my body is going to be floating down the river at the bottom of these mountains!!” {Freak out moment in my head. “Do I share this with my team?…They are going to think I’m crazy…”} I’ve learned to share these weird things because you never know if they will make sense or not, and it helps to have other people to confirm you aren’t crazy.
see that windy river down there??
The rest of the team gets the word from the Lord to go down in the jeep, and I “follow my team” in the decision. But I’m still freaking out in my head. The next morning we load up in the “jeep” which turns out to be a little bigger than a standard size 4 door truck, and it has a small truck bed in the back with roll bars. Looks safe enough for the 8 of us to ride down in. The guys tell us 4 in the front, and 4 in the back. No problem. I hop in the back, thinking I’ll let the other girls be comfy inside but also thinking if we go off the side of the mountain because of a landslide I can jump out. The 8 of us get settled in with all our gear, but about 8 more people are standing around the truck still. Then they start to get in the truck too. Problem. We are stuffed into this truck like sardines. Then to top it off, literally, they pull a tarp over us in the back so that we don’t get wet from the rain. Problem x3. I’ve been working through my motion sickness this year with all our creative transportation, but I’m also claustrophobic…not to mention freaking out because of my vision from the night before. As I’m squished on the side of the truck bed, looking in front of me I see our backpacks stacked in front of my legs, and suddenly feel myself get up and hunker down right in the middle of it all. I’ve got 4 sets of knees in my sides and face, leaning up against a backpack and I close my eyes and begin to pray and take some deep breaths. We start our 4×4 descent down the mountain…bumpy doesn’t begin to describe it. As I’m praying, I feel Dakota’s hand land on my shoulder and squeeze it in silence. I know we are both freaking out. Then come the tears. I’ve never had a panic attack, but I’m pretty positive that’s where I was headed…
BUT GOD…He took that moment to remind me of the vision He had given me the night before. It went something like this:
God: Remember the vision?
Me: I’m trying really hard right now to NOT think about how I’m going to die…don’t bring up that vision right now…can’t You hear me praying to you right now??
God: What posture are you in right now?
Me: I’m lying back against this backpack…
God: Mmhmm…where is your team?
Me: In the truck, in front of me…
God: What kind of road are you going down?
Me: A windy one…I guess it could kinda look like a windy river…
God: I got you girl.
Me: Oh. OoooOOOOooo!!! {instant. peace.}
Does listening prayer sound crazy? Sure. But give it a try… My God has yet to disappoint me with it this year. He’s definitely crazy…crazy good, and crazy about talking to you.
