{"id":6968,"date":"2021-01-18T10:13:03","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T00:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6968"},"modified":"2021-01-18T10:13:05","modified_gmt":"2021-01-18T00:13:05","slug":"gods-sign-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/gods-sign-language\/","title":{"rendered":"GOD’S SIGN LANGUAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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December 1, 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally seen on Fr Anthony’s blog (1 December. 2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a guest post from Peri Koussa<\/a> – a fifth year PharmD student at MCPHS University in Boston.  Aside from being a future health care professional, Peri is also – in her own words – “a closet poet and strong believer in the power of words.”  You can see more of Peri’s work by checking her out on SoundCloud<\/a>.  And if you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines<\/a> for more info.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How often do you ask God for “a sign”?  Are you as guilty of it as I am?  I say things like: \u201cIf God wills it\u201d, or \u201cGod, I\u2019m putting this in Your hands\u201d, or just simply \u201cLord, give me a sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like to include God in every little decision that I make, hence the constant fishing for reassurance by asking for a sign. But it\u2019s listening to His answer that always drives me nuts. I can never tell if\/when He\u2019s responding. My struggle is always \u2014 how do I discern if this is a spiritual sign or just a plain old sign that I\u2019m trying to see spiritually?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of us are probably caught asking for a sign when choosing a life partner. I think it\u2019s easily the biggest commitment you could make, (second to having a child), so we find divine intervention to be most crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you know what? It\u2019s not always black and white. Sometimes who you\u2019re meant to spend the rest of your life with might be as clear as night and day, but other times, it simply isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s not cupid. He doesn\u2019t use a bow and arrow to match you with the Adam or Eve of your dreams. God uses the Holy Spirit. I think most people misinterpret, \u201clisten to your heart,\u201d <\/em>because your heart isn\u2019t your feelings, it\u2019s the Holy Spirit that lives within you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus we need to stop looking with our EYES and start listening with our HEARTS.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, yes, there are other points in life where we ask God for a sign. Points that make us wish our life paths were more clear. But, as I sit here and commiserate, I\u2019m reminded of Jonah and Abraham, whose stories reassure me that God\u2019s plan will always prevail no matter the sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonah didn\u2019t have to ask for a sign, God clearly said to him: \u201cArise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you\u201d (Jonah 3:2). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite how clear God was, Jonah ignored Him.  God had a plan for him, though, and no matter how hard Jonah would\u2019ve tried, God was going to make sure that His plan for him was the one that prevailed. And it did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God sent Abraham the sign that he was longing for in the last second; \u201cThen he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, \u201cAbraham! Abraham!\u2026Do not lay a hand on the boy\u201d (Genesis 22:10-12). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk about perfect timing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you might be thinking to yourself, “I wish God\u2019s signs were that clear for me!”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe they are.  God\u2019s sign language is the Holy Spirit that resides within you, and there\u2019s nothing louder than that voice in your head. So listen to Him as He guides you over every speed bump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s human nature to become fixated on our paths and obsess over interpreting signs. But if we listen to our hearts and hear what God has to say, it\u2019ll become easier and easier for us to understand what these signs mean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, as Solomon once said:\u00a0\u201cA man\u2019s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps\u201d (Proverbs 16:9)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(c) Fr Anthony Messeh (2018). God’s Sign Language by Peri Moussa. Available at http:\/\/www.franthony.com\/blog\/gods-sign-language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 1, 2017 Originally seen on Fr Anthony’s blog (1 December. 2017) This is a guest post from Peri Koussa – a fifth year PharmD student at MCPHS University in Boston.  Aside from being a future health care professional, Peri is also – in her own words – “a closet poet and strong believer in the power … Continue reading “GOD’S SIGN LANGUAGE”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6970,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6968\/revisions\/6970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}