“Speak, Lord, for Thy Servant Listens”…devotional thoughts by Sue Thomas

The winter has been harsh in Ohio to the point that the cry of my heart became, “Lord, send me south!” God answered almost instantly with an email that invited me to return to my spiritual roots in Columbia, South Carolina where I had the blessing to speak to the student body at Columbia International University (CIU) during their morning chapel service.

We left for Columbia last Tuesday when the temperatures were -20 in Ohio and I spoke in chapel last Wednesday with the temperature of 81 in South Carolina!

The Lord heard my cries and answered so graciously!! To have such blessed communion with our Lord is better then life itself.  To be able to say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy Servant Listens” is a royal and sacred privilege for we have the ear and the audience of the King of Kings, the Creator of the Universe, the Great I AM!

We had no idea what God had in store for us on this journey but have found it has been a mini-sabbatical of being renewed and restored. Last Sunday I spoke at a small church in Florence, SC where we saw an old friend. This  pastor friend was used as a vessel some 30 years ago when he invited me to speak for an Easter Sunrise service. This was the first step which began my 30 years of proclaiming my Lord. What a blessing it was to see this old friend, a retired pastor, that was used so greatly to start my ministry so long ago.

The blessing has continued with a few days at Carolina Beach in North Carolina. We are being renewed and restored with the breaking of waves and watching the dolphins dance and feeding the sea gulls. The sun is shining and it is 72 degrees and we are blessed by His sending and the time we have for listening.

This morning my beloved friend and caregiver, Thumbs, looked at me and said, “I wish you could hear the roar of the sea and the crashing of the waves.” I smiled with a deep satisfaction in knowing the sea and the crashing of the waves do speak to me. I hear the Voice of my Master with my eyes beholding His creation – the going out and coming in of each wave is the same as my very breathing. I hear His Voice upon the waters and it beckons me to draw near to listen with my soul.

Listen I do. My silence cannot keep me from hearing His Voice, but rather, it is just the opposite – In my silence I can hear His Voice and His Voice alone. And I know that what the Lord gives to me, it is what is best for me.

As I cover the miles of a lifetime, I continue to seek Him. My deepest heart’s desire is “Lord, speak, for your servant listens.” Life is an incredible journey with incredible lessons. The brightness of His pure light is seen most clearly in my darkest hours.

It is there in the darkness that the greatest lessons are taught. It is there that He speaks and to fully learn, I must be still and listen.

2 Comments

  1. I love doing that – just getting lost in His presence. Yes, it is hard to do, to still our mind to that degree but once there, it’s also hard to leave! I “stumbled across” a great book on hearing the Lord called “Hearing God” by Peter Lord. I am reading it now – and finding so much confirmation of what He has taught me. I wish everyone believed that you can actually hear Him, that he really still speaks today . . . it’s so sad that many believe the only way He speaks is through the pages of the Bible as you read it. That is one way, but not even the most important way. But to believe He still speaks today and wants to speak to you, one has to believe it! God bless you guys and your “assignments”, you go girls!!!

    Like

  2. I was operatically trained and was offered a chance to sing with an opera company in NY just as I was going through a divorce. With 3 small children, I decided to focus on more schooling and received my certification to teach and a nursing license. For several years I taught special ed (gifted and challenged students), and worked weekends in a neonatal special care unit. One daughter was quite ill for 4 1/2 years and required brain surgery. Through it all, a deep faith, Christian family and friends kept my focus on Him. Now that the girls are grown, I have had 2 bouts of breast cancer, RA and MS. I can no longer sing for the Lord and the RA makes playing the piano difficult. BUT, Praise the Lord, He is faithful to meet our needs, use our weaknesses and allows us to become a blessing to/through others when we are listening and watching Him at work in our lives and the lives of others! What a gift prayer is . . a conversation with God where we may only groan or await His words.

    I have enjoyed the TV series based on your work and challenges in the FBI, and I pray that God will strengthen you and bless you as you work for the kingdom May God richoy bless you and give you a renewal of health and peace!

    Becky

    Like

Leave a Reply to Rebecca Norris-Brown Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s