Sometimes God speaks to us when we are simply minding our own business. I was driving east on Interstate 20 in Columbia, SC last May when I began to see signs. Literally! There were multiple billboards rising like mountains above the highway, advertising going “back to school.” Some of them advertised online degrees and others advertised graduate school.
Many exit signs pointed the way to local colleges and universities.
I saw so many of them in just a few miles of travel that I began to wonder if God was speaking to me through the signs.
At one point I looked at an electronic billboard to the left of the highway, and, no joke, it changed before my eyes to a sign advertising going back to school. Talk about surreal.
Soon afterward I passed the exit to “Clemson Road.” Clemson is a university in South Carolina. I got the hint.
I graduated from N. C. State University in 1995 with degrees in Nuclear Engineering and Public Relations. After working in the nuclear industry for a few years, I left my engineering job and became a stay-at-home mom. Now that my kids are both adults and in college, I’m a lady of leisure. I can set my own schedule and do what I want to do. Life is good.
I have no desire to go back to school. Zero. Nada. Zilch. I think I have all the “ed-gee-cay-shun” that I need. I don’t want to spend the time writing papers and cramming for exams. I don’t have the tens of thousands of dollars required to go to graduate school. I don’t want the stress that college brings. Instead, I want to shop and make note cards and take naps and work in my garden. Who wouldn’t?
After seeing all of the signs along the interstate, I started praying. Just like the young Samuel said to the Lord, “Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening,” I asked God to speak to me. I needed him to speak to me, very clearly, if He truly desired for me to go back to school.
Well, He did. When I arrived home that afternoon, I checked the mail. This is what I found in my mailbox, shrink-wrapped along with my Charisma magazine:
The funny thing is that we are not paid subscribers to Charisma. They send them for free. After seeing this insert, I said, “Okay, God, I think you are saying that I should go back to school.”
But why? What’s the point? Are there times when God has spoken to you and you had no idea why He was leading you to do something? Sometimes God just doesn’t make sense.
When He tells you to put your last $10 in the offering place
When He prompts you to quit your job
When He leads you to start a small group
When He asks you to sell all you have and go on the mission field
In the Bible, we can find plenty of examples when God tells people to do far-fetched things. He told Abraham to leave behind his family and to travel to a new land. He told Noah to build an ark. He told Moses to strike a rock. He told Isaiah the prophet to preach naked for three years!
Taking a leap of faith, I started to do some research, starting with reading the Charisma magazine insert. A lot of my friends have gone to Regent University in Virginia Beach, so I filled out a form online for more information. An enthusiastic lady called me a few days later, and I applied over the phone while shopping in Harris Teeter. And then I was accepted. After a few months of prayer, I enrolled. Then I registered for classes, paid tuition, and bought my books on Amazon.
Sometimes God desires that we take baby steps of obedience, even when we don’t know where we are going or why we are going there. He often hides our destination and requires that we blindly follow Him, like sheep follow their shepherd. We have to trust His leading in our lives, because He knows what we need even when we don’t. Like Jesus, we have to surrender our will to His.
Today, I will start working on my Masters in Divinity degree online through Regent University. Why? I have no clue. Do I want to? Not really. But I do know that God spoke to me, and confirmed it, so I am walking in obedience. I’m taking one baby step at a time. I can’t see the future and how all of this works out, but I am trusting.
Because faith chooses to obey God when it absolutely makes no sense.
What about you? What is God nudging your heart to do that doesn’t make sense? Pray for confirmation. Take baby steps of obedience. And watch what God will do.
The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me.
LORD, Your love is eternal;
do not abandon the work of Your hands.
Psalm 138:8 HCSB
