The Law of the Spirit

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever. The Helper is the Spirit of truth. The people of the world cannot accept him, because they don’t see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you.”

‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭16‬-‭17‬

It’s so crazy that when you’re doing the will of God and not your own—the enemy works so hard to pull you off track. What I have learned recently is that when God calls you to do something, you listen, because the more you listen, the more you hear, and the more you hear, the more you understand, and the more you understand, the more your heart is open to changes.

I’m so thankful that we’ve all been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and that my eyes, mind, and heart have finally been open enough to receive it. It’s taken me 28 years…if only I had known to listen sooner, I wonder where would my heart be now?

Sometime in June:

I had scheduled a hair appointment for early that afternoon and as a little treat to myself I stopped by Dutch Bros to get a small Golden Eagle (seriously go try it, it’s so good). While in line waiting to order I had the biggest urge to reach out to my hair dresser and offer to bring her a coffee or stop on the way and bring her food since it was about lunch time. I didn’t have her cell phone number so I ignored that urge and ordered my coffee and continued on my way. About 10 minutes before making it to the salon, I received a text from an unknown number. It was my hair dresser! She explained to me that she would be a few minutes late. Not thinking much of it, I expressed for her not to rush and that I’d see her soon. Fast forward about 30 minutes into highlighting my hair, she begins to get shaky and she looks visibly weak. She finishes highlighting my hair and explains to me how she hadn’t eaten yet that day and was struggling with her recent gluten allergy diagnoses. She decided she ought to go munch on a granola bar while my hair processed.

I was in disbelief. How did I miss that? God gave me exactly what I had needed, her cell phone number, so that I could offer to bring her some food on my way to the salon. She was even running late which gave me ample time to stop on the way.

Ok, God. You have my attention.

A few weeks later:

Early this summer I started walking with an old friend quite regularly, and she’s been such a blessing and motivator for me. Aside from chasing my kids around, I lived a sedentary lifestyle so this was a big step for me!

One day I woke up feeling a little more anxious than normal and had feelings of guilt like I wasn’t doing enough for myself or my children. The next few days would be hard. I almost felt ashamed and embarrassed about not living a healthier life.

Soon after, I kept having thoughts about adjusting my lifestyle in certain ways that just wouldn’t go away. When I say that they were constant, I mean it. Even in my dreams. It was very annoying (and honestly still is) because I’m pretty happy at where I’m at with what I’m doing, so why on Earth was I so stuck in these thoughts?

After about a week I confided in a few of my best friends and asked them their thoughts because I was also having some “God-incidents” and wanted to run it by them. To my surprise, the same thing had happened to them when God was calling them “back in line” so to speak.

It felt like God was saying, “Hannah, you’re on your way! But I know you can do even better. Have you thought about quitting some other unhealthy habits?” Insert thinking about these habits 24/7 for three days.

I have never heard God speak to me before. I’ve heard others talk about it and was always a tad bit jealous that they had a lifeline to God, but mine was seemingly disconnected. I remember telling my small group that I thought I was listening for God all wrong. So imagine my excitement and surprise when I had finally figured it out!

At that point I had to make a decision. I could either obey what I felt God was clearly telling me to do, or I could ignore God (as I often had) and do my own will. I didn’t want to stop living how I had, and still do not. My reasoning is that I’m doing just fine as is, why is God putting this on my heart?

I still don’t know the reason why God has called me to obey. Maybe He’s testing my obedience, maybe it’s for my health, maybe He needs to borrow me to help someone. I may never know the reason.

But for now, I’m going to choose to listen. And I can, with 100% confidence, tell you that ever since I’ve started listening, God has been providing in more ways than one.

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2