Michael suggested that I post portions of HEARING EYES, the book that I have written, which has been shelved for several years waiting on the Spirit to instruct me on what the final chapter will be. So, I am listening. The following is the introduction to the book.
Have you ever stood on one side of a raging river wishing that there was a bridge to cross over so that you could make it to the other side? If you have, you will easily understand the message and purpose of this book ... to provide a “crossing” or “bridge” to get to the other side.
Years ago, back in the mid-60’s, while living in Farmington, New Mexico and while attending one of the local Baptist Churches in that city, I joined hundreds of other area teenage girls on an overnight campout in the southwest corner of Colorado. Our group was comprised of girls who were active in the G.A. missions program at each of their local churches. Our leader, the mother of my close friend, Joy, drove our small group of five or six teenage girls to this outdoor campsite. At the close of the evening program around the campfire we all spread out our sleeping bags on the ground to sleep under the stars. Very soon after all the giggling girls somewhat settled down to sleep, a rain storm suddenly hit all the unsuspecting and inexperienced campers. I crawled down deep inside my sleeping bag and pulled it over my head only to realize it was hardly enough cover to protect myself from the downpour.
Joy’s Mom instructed us to quickly gather our belongings and head to their Scout, the family vehicle, so that we could immediately leave the camp and drive back to Farmington. However, there was one possible obstacle to making that a reality. We had to cross over a stream that separated us from the highway. Earlier in the day the bridge that crossed over this gently trickling stream stood about 10 feet above the surface of the water. Once the rain began to pour, the water flowing down the mountainside caused that gentle stream to develop into a raging river!! We could see from the car that the water was quickly rising with every passing minute.
Joy’s mom asked Joy and me to both get out of the car and see if the bridge was safe enough to pass over. In hindsight … what fourteen year old girl has the wisdom and discernment to make that decision? Joy and I complied. We carefully ventured out onto the dark bridge where we could see that the waters were literally touching the underside of the bridge. We turned around and quickly reported back to Joy’s Mom what we saw. She made the decision to drive across the bridge. Thankfully, the Lord protected us while we made it over to the other side without any problem. For years I wondered about the fate of the hundreds of girls left on the other side of the stream, wondering if perhaps they chose to wait out the storm before returning home.
Forty years ago I stood on one side of a stream and longed to make it over to the other side where the highway was that led us back home. Today I have found that there are countless Christians that find themselves on one side of a spiritual stream from those who are experiencing the deeper things of the Lord. These Christians listen to those on the other side tell of hearing God speak to them while they long in their own hearts to know how they too can hear Him for themselves. But, they are looking at the raging rivers that are flowing in the Church …the Living Waters of Jesus … the spiritual rivers that are so frequently spoken of or written about. Those on the other side threw caution to the wind and jumped into the raging rivers when the Holy Spirit led them to jump in. Nothing, absolutely nothing, kept them from following the voice of the Lord when He said, “Come.” There are so many who have observed those who risked everything to “jump in”, yet, when the voice of fear rose up within them, they were convinced that there was no hope that they will ever survive such a jump themselves, nor even make it to the other side where the others seemed to be enjoying a fulfilling life in the Spirit and hearing God’s voice speak to them. These fearful and doubting Believers have also listened as these Believers encouraged them to “trust God for themselves and come on over and join them”, but, that also seemed a hopeless cause. Perhaps the answer here would be a spiritual bridge for them to cross to make going to the other side possible.
Simply put, these Believers have no idea how to reach the other side of this spiritual river and walk where the “others are walking”. They are curious, yet, that curiosity is quenched by the fear of being embarrassed if others knew they didn’t know how to hear God’s voice for themselves ... or simply they have embraced the voice of doubt more so than the trusting arms of the Lord. It seems as if there are opposing sides in the Body of Christ … those who hear the Lord and those who don’t ... those who are daring enough to look like fools when they trust the Spirit’s call to jump into a “wild and crazy spiritual river” and those who must “see a tangible way to believe that they could survive such a jump and not look like fools when they do”.
We, the Body of Christ, are traveling down a spiritual road called “life in the Spirit”. In the natural we also take road trips, we travel about town, and while we do, we will encounter one road sign after the other. We are trained in drivers education to watch for, read, and then obey these signs . . . signs that warn, signs that give directions, signs that we must obey so not to break the law, signs that will keep us on track as we head towards the goal of our final destinations. In the Spirit our Heavenly Father gives us signs as well.
One problem we have in the Church as Believers is that we have not received in depth training on how to read and then understand the Spiritual signs that are from the Lord. These signs are instructional, many times conveying to us what is “up ahead” by showing us where He is leading us and how far we will travel until we reach our destinations, or destinies, if you will. These spiritual signs train us to see Him at work in our lives along the way. They train our eyes to see what He is doing and to hear what He is saying through what we see.
“HEARING EYES” has been written in response to the Lord’s command to me back in 1999 to “teach how to see in the Spirit”. How might we see in the Spirit? There are many, many ways. This book will share several of those ways as an attempt to convey to you, the reader, how you can hear God’s voice through what you see each and every day of your life. I have found that I personally gain more through hearing or reading personal testimonies that convey truths more so than by textbook teachings alone. Teaching directly from the scriptures is essential and foundational. Everything that we try to share in the way of teaching testimonies needs to be founded and backed by scripture.
It is my prayer for you, the reader, that as you read these stories the Holy Spirit will quicken in your spirit new ways to recognize the same leadings He has given you in your own personal life that perhaps you did not realize were significant or even from Him in particular. I know this method is effective as many of my close personal friends have time and time again shared with me that they are now tuned in to the Holy Spirit and His ways and methods in a new way after hearing various testimonies I have shared with them. These stories will open your eyes to Him in new ways on how He will speak to you … it is so exciting once that spiritual switch is turned on 24/7 rather than just when you read the Word, hear a sermon or teaching, or words spoken through this brother or sister in the Lord.
This book is full of stories that have been compiled pretty much in chronological order. I will make every attempt to convey the Biblical foundation that supports the experiences that I will be sharing and how the Spirit led me through each experience, so not to appear as a loose cannon firing away. This book will offer you a manuscript full of actual stories that testify to what I have personally walked through (and survived) and then recorded in journals for the past 20 or so years. Along the way as I experienced each one of these situations I would many times just chuckle to myself knowing that once again the Lord was setting me up to record one more situation that I must record for future use. That “future use” has blossomed into this book that I pray will serve as that spiritual bridge for those who seem to find that they are standing on one side of a spiritual stream and wondering how in the world they could reach the other side so that they too can join those who are obviously living victorious and fulfilling spiritual lives in the Lord.
Lastly, this book is a personal invitation to you to come, take a few moments of your time to step out of your comfort zone and allow the words that are written upon these pages to stretch you a little bit in your thinking as they are meant to be simply a “bridge” for you to venture out upon so that you can reach your destination on the other side of the raging spiritual waters that may seem so frightening to many of you. I pray that as I share these personal stories you will see them as just one more plank in the bridge … one step closer as I try to lay down my reputation, any concern of what “man may think”, to give you another step closer to walk on to reach what is waiting for you on the other side. It will only take a step of faith … one step at a time … to trust the leading and call of the Spirit as He says, “Come.”
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