#57: Hearing God in the Wilderness

Jeanette Peterson 0:04

I just went for a long hike. I've been trying to listen to God see what he's saying to me. And when I don't feel good, I get anxious, I get mad sure with my family, all the negative versions of myself start to come out. And I don't really like that version of myself because I've done a lot of therapy and medicated and I've worked hard to put my best foot forward every time I step out into the world every time I wake up, I work very hard to put the best version of myself out there. And I have not been feeling that lately. And I've been feeling lost. And so I had to find God again. I'm not saying that I was far from him. I go to church. I've been reading my Bible every day. I just needed to get closer than I was already. You know, I'm saying sometimes you just need to be a little bit closer for certain times of certain seasons. And this was one of those seasons. So today I went for a hike. For me whenever I go someplace that is surrounded by God's creation. So out in the wilderness, around animals around the ground around Earth. I feel God. I don't know what it is like for you, but that's when I feel God the most, but I'm just out and it's just like me in God's earth. Me in the wilderness alone. Me. It's like me, like I feel like a little came to Moses where he had to go out on the mountain. That's what I had to do. I had to go out to the mountain and I had to get quiet. So the first thing I did was I started walking. Right? And I was like, I had all these thoughts in my head and I just could not get him out. You know how like you're trying to go to sleep and your brain just goes a million miles per hour. That's what my brain was doing. But it was like nine o'clock in the morning. So I put on worship music. I put on my headphones, I put on worship music and then I just started worshiping because I know that if my praise is bigger than my anxiety, those two things can't live in the same space. And I know God is my comfort I rest in Him I rested the things that he has for me and I know that so that was the first thing that I had to do. I had to get really quiet and just hear God worship God. I had to worship Him first before I could hear him. I had to let him know that I am a child of yours. I love you. You are the God most Hi, I don't want anything if it's not from you. And what I do is I've got a playlist and I put it on shuffle. I know that when it's on shuffle the songs I need to hear will come first. It always does. It always does. So that's what I did. So listen to the songs as I was walking for the first 20 minutes or so. And then I was done worshiping that's the first thing is worship. And then I put in prophetic soaking music is that playlists on YouTube that I found just like soaking in His presence is instrumental any of those things will do. And I had to listen, I had to get really close to God and just be like, Okay, what are you trying to tell me? Like what are you trying to show me? What are you trying? Like, I can't hear you so that I just was listening to the music and just observing. I wasn't thinking about anything specific. All of that had already washed away. I was just walking, putting one foot in front of the other and they start seeing things differently. Because when I was in worship and walking, I was just like focused on God focused on God, what he wanted, what, what he is, all those things. I was just 100 was focused on God during that time. And then whenever I'm soaking music, I realized I was focused on my steps. I was focused on where I was going. So it was like I would look up every now and again and see the trail marker. There's a little bread, like placard that's hammered to a tree every 100 so or so feet, right? So I was like looking for the trail markers and looking down at where it was walking because it was muddy, and there's roots and there's rocks and there's other things that are in the way. feces. Other things right ice, lots of stuff in the way on the trail. So I was I was like okay, now that I'm soaking and I know that I'm in the Lord's presence. Let me focus on my steps on my feet. And I was like walking, I was walking and walking, looking at making sure I was on the right track looking up making sure I was on the right track was down at my feet where I was going, but I wasn't worried about anything else. To my right and to my left. I wasn't worried about any of those things I wasn't worried about. Are there animals out here? I'm sure there are but I wasn't worried about those. I was just feeling very at peace. Very calm. Very focused on where I was going and looking up and making sure that I was on the right track. That's all those two things I was thinking was alright, don't fall don't slip. Am I the right path? Yes, keep going. And I realized that afterwards, I realized, oh, wait a second. This is what I need. To be doing in my life and in my business is keeping my head down. Not worried about what's to my right was to my left what everybody else is doing. But I need to focus on my steps going forward, one to one to don't fall on this route. Avoid that pitfall keep going forward. Look up. Am I on the right track? Yes, God, yes, I'm still on your track, and keep going forward and keep going forward and keep going forward. The trail, got to a fork in the road. And there was a time way before that when I was asking God I was like God can you please show me what it feels like when I'm on the right path? Even if I can't see you, even when I know that you're there, but I can't see you or feel you like I do sometimes. Please tell me how that sign is for me. What does that sign that I know that I'm on your path because I also want to be on your path. And then the ground at the end. Like it literally was like this. Frozen mostly Rocky, and I'm almost at the end of my walk here y'all. This was like a myelin and the ground began to get sticky. little sticky. Little slippery, was sticky or slippery. But like I knew the ground was there and it was sticky and slippery. And it felt different. And then then it went away and I was like God are you trying to show me that? Are you trying to show me that this is what appears to be a little bit sticky. A little bit. malleable, a little bit doughy. A little bit slick. Is that what I should be looking for? And then the ground underneath me change again. To that exact exact type of a thing. So I was like okay, God, that is that is my sign from you. Now I know that that for sure is from you. And then the ground got normal again. How it had been the entire height. Then I came to the fork in the road. Give me the fork in the road, I look up and on the tree it said up down at a brown arrow and my color was red. And the red arrow looked like it had been moved a couple of times like it looked like it was not at a clear direction. So I'm like okay, I can go either right or left. But I can't tell what this is saying to me. So I'm gonna go right. And then as I started off on the packet, Oh, right. I was like This doesn't feel right. This path feels different. This path does not feel like the same path. I was just on. This feels different. This is not this is not right. I just couldn't I just knew intuitively. In my soul, I knew that that path was not right. I was like this is not right. This is off. It doesn't feel good. I'm not feeling the fruits of the Spirit. I'm not feeling joy. I'm not feeling peace. I'm not feeling abundance. I'm not feeling any of those things. But I will keep going to see the next marker because that's just how I am. So it's not that it's marker and it was brown. I was not on the right trail. So I turned around went past the part where the fork was. And it felt right. It felt right. So I was like God, please tell me when I get home. What I should be doing. What should I be doing God please tell me 100% And you know what God did? God told me to write this. Say this podcast. I was gonna write it. But it didn't feel right. In the podcast, the only thing God has ever told me to do ever was do the podcast

so what are you doing? That you know that from God do you need to do what I did? Do you need to go get quiet? You did ask for direction Julie to ask for a symbol a sign that you are on the right path. Because he will show you because he wants you on your path if he wants you on the right path if that's the path that you want to be on. And I do I love God so much, so much. And I just only want to be on his path. I also want to do the things that he has for me I only want to be doing His will I only want His will. So I think it's time for you to get quiet. Ask God for direction. Ask God for signs. You're on the right path. And do that. Do that thing. Wow, that was so good. So I know that you know you might also hear that. So share this episode. leave a review. And I would love you can watch my Greek workshop at Jeanette peterson.com/missing. I'll see you guys over on the ground at Jeanette dot Peterson bye bye