Ignore the Noise, Listen to God’s Voice
I’m pretty sure we’ve all been accused of being hard of hearing a time or two in our lives. I often take my ability to hear for granted. Having the ability to hear, however, can be overwhelming. Think about it, many sounds, many voices, many tones are hitting us at every second. When we hear, we must discern or pick out what’s most important to comprehend or to understand, or to follow.
When the world is coming at us from every direction, affecting, influencing, seducing all of our senses, we must drown out the noise. The noise of the world can lure us into false hope and can lead us to sin. God’s voice, however, is also making a noise. A joyful noise. To many, He speaks very clearly, but also to many, His voice is not as clear.
My wife and I are foster parents. We became licensed in 2019. If I’m being honest though, it took a long, long time for me to hear that God was calling me to do this, to be a foster parent with Sarah, and for us to be a foster family. I believe the reason why it took me so long is because I had a lot of noise drowning out God’s voice. I wasn’t “tuned in” to Him. I had other things occupying my brain-space besides His Word and being in His presence. My time in the bible and my time in prayer was minimal. My selfish nature was telling me that fostering would go against the plans that I had for myself. It was telling me that I did not want a stranger coming into my “perfect” life. I didn’t want to be responsible for another child, as I already had four. God has been talking to me this entire time, I just didn’t hear Him.
Prior to all of this, around eleven years ago, we worked with Ruth Harbor House and took in a young woman and her newborn, Damian, into our home. The expectations Sarah and I had for this situation did not yield the desired results. After 6 months of this arrangement it was over as we told the mom that it wasn’t working and she and her son needed to move out. While this experience left us confused and maybe a little scorned, God was talking to us and telling us that He wasn’t done with us yet. He was not done with us being His hands and feet. As if there was going to be a “next time.” Again, the noise was coming through louder than God’s voice. What next time? As far as I knew, we weren’t going to bring any other strangers into our home ever again. Fast forward a few years later, God was working again when the church we were attending at that time was promoting a new ministry of fostering and adoption. God further reinforced for us that we can love and bless others through this process. I believe through prayer, Sarah’s energy and persistence, and through the examples of others who were becoming foster parents, God was talking to me specifically not to close the door on this process. This has led us to where we are today. Since we’ve become a foster family, we’ve had two full-time placements, Will and Alex. In both cases, each boy was reunified with his birth parents. In addition to the full-time placements, we also serve as a respite foster home, as well as, have provided transitional care for two newborns before they were formally placed with their current adoptive homes.
This journey in fostering definitely has its peaks and valleys, such as anything else that life brings, however, God has been present this entire time. With God’s voice, his prompting, and the conviction given to us by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus’ example of how he loves all of his children when he said, “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25:40); fostering has allowed us to love others like Jesus.
Hearing God is so much more than being aware of his call and calling for your life, it's being able to also be obedient to His calling. How many times have you heard the voice of God or the Holy Spirit in your ear telling you to do something or to push you in a certain direction yet you firmly opposed it and went the other way? He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Luke 11:28). “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27) And in our case as it relates to fostering, the calling wasn't evident for me early on, however, being obedient and knowing that God wants us to love on his children the same way he loved you and me are what resonated with me and has allowed me to have a different mindset and heart change for fostering.
“Hearing God is so much more than being aware of his call and calling for your life, it’s being able to also be obedient to His calling.”
When you feel as if you aren’t hearing God’s voice, I encourage you to talk with Him more. Pray. Have a conversation with Him. Journal your thoughts. Crank up the praise music. Read His word. Drown out the noise and be consumed in Him. It works because He’s always there.