Are you listening?

Just thought I'd share a little something God
brought to my mind recently of a lesson I
learned.

I was walking with a stroller when Luke was less
than a year old. Jake was walking next to me and Drew
(2-yrs-old at the time) wanted to run ahead a
little bit. That was alright until we were
headed toward the parking lot that had a lane
for cars just before you got into the parking
lot. At first I was calling to Drew and he
thought it was funny to run away. Then he started
sprinting ahead, having no idea there was danger
in this direction. By this time, even if I left
the stroller and started sprinting, I would not
have caught him before he ran into the street.
I was screaming now, as LOUD and URGENT as I could
but he didn't listen. I was hoping he would
"listen" and stop! He didn't. THANK GOD no cars came at
that point because he ran past a fence into the street
and they never would have even seen him coming.
Fear and panic rose in me until I could catch up
to him and grab him. I said to him, "Why didn't
you listen to my voice? You could have been hurt
really bad! A car could have hit you. I was
telling you to stop." I hugged him and kissed him
and told him how much I loved him. I told him
that I would be devastated if anything happened
to him and that if he runs away from me and doesn't
stay close, then I can't protect him from danger.

What I took away from that was a reminder of how
close we need to stay to our Heavenly Father. He
knows the way for us that He has prepared. He knows
the struggles that we go through and He wants us
to stay close to Him so He can give us His peace
and strength. It doesn't mean if we stay close
life will be easy. It does mean that God will help
us through it. If we obey God, there will be many
"dangers" that God protects us from as well. We
need to "listen" to God and learn how to "hear"
what He is saying to us. He loves us more than
we can fathom and wants to protect us even more
than I want to protect my own childen. When we
stay close (reading the Bible, going to church,
and praying) we will be able to hear from God
more.

Don't run ahead and don't ignore God calling to
you. Stay close to Him and listen. Remember, it's
not enough to listen, but we need to obey too.
God will take care of you and protect you if you do!