I don’t know how God speaks to you. Maybe it is in an audible
voice that sounds a lot like Morgan Freeman.
If that is how He does it, cool!
I am a little envious, maybe even jealous, because that is not how He
speaks to me. I take consolation in the fact I do not think I am alone in this.
I hear God in a totally different way. Often I hear God’s voice most clearly when
something starts to pop up in multiple places.
The repetition causes me take notice and I begin to wonder if God is
trying to tell me something. I watch and
listen. I open my heart to what He may
be trying to teach me. If it shows up
again, I start to believe He is speaking to me.
It is more of a process than a point in time.
Sometimes, I wonder if my Heavenly Father doesn’t get
frustrated with the fact He has to tell me something multiple times before I get
it. Mostly, however, I just consider His
willingness to bring something up in several differ ways, in a short period of
time, as an expression of His loving kindness. The reoccurrence of what I am seeing
or hearing allows two things; it allows me to hear clearly, and it helps grow
my confidence that God is involved in what I am discovering. Both are essential if I am going to take what
I am discerning and act upon it as an expression of God’s voice.
While it might be a lot quicker for God to speak out loud to
me, how He has chosen to go about speaking to me is in fact, a good thing. It forces me to be attentive, willing to wait
and in constant dialogue with God about what I am hearing. In the long run, I think this does more to
develop intimacy with God than a regular audible voice simply telling me what I
need to do next would be capable of doing.
This is a gift.
I share all this because the concept of “Yips” has been
showing up in various places this week, and it makes me wonder what God might want
to say. Yips are involuntary muscle spasms
which may cause an athlete to be unable to perform an action which they have previously
been able to perform in their sleep.
Golfers, who have sunk short putts thousands of times, suddenly cannot
sink one to save their life. Second basemen, who have won Gold Gloves, suddenly cannot throw a ball and hit the side of a
barn.
While Yips manifest themselves physically, most people suspect
the yips are related to stress and feelings of anxiety. Maybe the pressure to perform builds up over
time and one day shows up in the involuntary muscle spasms which prevent the
person from continuing to perform what has previously been second nature.
Yips can affect athletes in every sport, and I have a sneaky
suspicion it can spill over into other areas of our lives as well. Can you think of any area where stress and
anxiety causes people to freeze up and fail to execute something that seems so
easy?
Twice this week I heard people describing the symptoms of Yips (even if they had no clue what they were describing had a name) and correlating it to the pressure of being watched, evaluated, and judged. The anxiety and stress of the pressure to perform, or better yet the pressure to not mess up, prevented them from performing what they normally could do with great skill. Needless to say, it is quite frustrating and can feel debilitating.
It made me wonder, in our highly competitive culture, where
most everyone feels they do not quite measure up or find themselves somehow
affected by the fear failure, what effect would being an encouragement to
everyone you meet have? In speaking words
of belief and support to people, could you actually reduce their stress and anxiety
enough to prevent the onset of Yips?
Could an environment of blessings and acceptance release people from the
psychological effects of fear and doubt, and allow them to step into the fullness
of what they were created to accomplish?
These are questions worth thinking about. More importantly,
they are questions worth doing something about.
When I think I hear God speaking to me through
circumstances, I always filter what I am hearing through what He has clearly
spoken through His word. In 1 Thessalonians
5:11 we are instructed to, “Encourage one another and build each other up.” Similar
instructions are given elsewhere in Scripture as well (2 Cor. 13:11, Hebrews
3:13). The intent is always the same; we
are to encourage one another in order that we can empower one another to live the
life we were intended to live.
What I have been hearing is consistent with what Scripture
reveals about how we are to relate to one another, and the power our
encouragement can have in the lives of others. It is always a good thing when you go around saying, “God told me”. It instills confidence in taking action on
what you have heard.
This confidence has caused me to keep my eyes open for
something else besides other evidences of God’s clear communication. I have started looking for those who may be
showing signs of anxiety and stress, and I have been asking God to give me
words of encouragement which may help to alleviate some the pressure. My hope would be that my words would be an invitation
to walk in the freedom of a much easier yoke. I believe it could be powerful,
mainly because I believe God has been speaking it, and He is never wrong.
It is kind of
exciting to tell you the truth.
If you are looking for a little excitement, maybe you could
join me in looking for such opportunities and in speaking such words, and in
the process we could help to prevent the Yips.
