God’s Inaudible Mumblings
Today’s guest posting is from Jacob Hoyer. He and his wife Erin are crowd favorites in our community. Although we were all sad to see them move away, we are confident that they are following the voice of the Father.
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It’s been a little over a month since Erin and I moved to Florida. About five weeks. I keep telling people, “It’s a whole new adventure”.
It’s been a blast. But that doesn’t mean it’s been fun. The last people to rent our house owned a cat that smoked. We had to scrub all the walls, paint them, and put out bowls of vinegar to get rid of the smell. We saved a good bit of money in anticipation of the transition, but we learned there’s just no way to project the cost of a move. Despite all that. Despite the fact we’ve been stretched beyond ourselves in this transition, we lay our heads on the back of our couch at the end of the day with the deep conviction that we are where we’re supposed to be.
We know that this is the time and this is the place. We know even though, in the whole decision-making and transition processes, God never said “Florida”.
I know a lot of folks who are waiting on a word from the Lord to make their next move. I’m glad I’m a part of a generation that follows the leading of the Spirit. Where it gets tough for me is that I’ve never seen a bush burn and not be consumed. I’ve never found a ram in the thicket, and I’ve never been swallowed by a large fish. God’s just never been that explicit in my life.
Before we made our move to Florida, God told me I was a leader. He told me I was called to empower others. He showed me that my identity is tied up in my inheritance and that I needed to serve someone else’s dream.
And God told me it was time to get out of where I had been.
Erin and I are definitely on the same page now, but we first decided to come here because I believed I needed to serve my dad in the church he planted the year before I was born. My dad is the forebear of my inheritance. My being the man and the minister I am today is directly attributable to his being the man and the minister he’s been all his life.
In the middle of 2011 I asked my dad, “How can I help make your dreams happen?”. He told me to come to Florida to work for him. It fit.
I’m learning to be a whole new kind of leader (God told me I was a leader). I’m growing into the opportunity to empower others within my new organization (God told me I would empower others). I’m serving my dad, the placeholder of my inheritance (God spoke of my inheritance and my need to serve someone else’s dream).
Hindsight might tell us something different, but I think we rarely hear God clearly. What we forget is that even God’s inaudible mumblings are the Words of Life.
I’ve spent the last three years honing in on a clearer picture of who I am in Christ. He’s shown me the wholeness of my identity and begun to reveal the expanses of how I’m called to minister. When it was time to move, I found a path that allowed me to be that to the full. From there on out it was up to me to make it happen. And the Lord’s been blessing it every step of the way.
