voices and buts…
WRITTEN BY NANCY SHACKELFORD, MY GRANDMA
From the time I was ten years old, I knew the Voice of God had called my name three times in one day. I was on my way to the grocery store when I heard my name the first time so clearly that I ran back home to see who had called me. That happened three times that day with no one from home calling out to me. But... I had distinctly heard the voice and somehow knew I was being called by God to be His own.
I grew up most of my teen and early adult life hearing the voice of my Mother saying, “Honey, you have a beautiful face BUT...”
I knew exactly what that BUT... meant. BUT... I was too fat.
My Precious Mother tried to cloak her voice in love BUT... words can pierce the heart and stay with you forever.
For years following that first BUT... I listened to voices of doctors getting prescriptions for diet pills to lose that 30 to 40 pounds and to try and keep it off. My appearance totally outweighed me, (emphasis on weighed) as a person and my personality. I grew to believe that what I looked like was more important than who I really was inside. I put up a facade of walls to hide behind never revealing my true self.
When I was twenty years old, I heard the Voice of God again and was radically saved accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. It was His Voice that revealed to me Psalm 139:14 NIV
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My Mother, who I knew loved me, saw only the outside BUT... Jesus saw my heart. Now this doesn’t take away from the fact that my mother was a wonderful mom to me and my siblings. She loved us tremendously and worked hard to raise three children as a single parent. She simply just wanted me to be a showpiece not realizing that words can cause pain. It was ultimately God’s love that covered me. He even used me to bring her to Jesus a few months after I was saved. I chose to listen to His voice and He in returned used me.
Each one of us hear voices everyday and we all have BUTS... in our life. It is imperative is to listen to the still small voice of Holy Spirit telling us who we truly are. The greatest “Love Story Ever Told” is when our God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die and restore us back into His Family. When Jesus chose to listen to His Father’s voice and was crucified on the cross for all our BUTS..., His voice resonated with LOVE when He cried, “IT IS FINISHED!”.
Before Jesus ascended back to Heaven, His voice gave us the Gift of Holy Spirit. Upon listening to this precious voice of Holy Spirit and allowing His love, grace and mercy to flood my heart, soul and spirit all of my BUTS.. began to heal from the inside out.
We all live in a world of VOICES and BUTS... it is up to us to listen for God’s Voice. His Voice is revealed through the Bible, prayer and Holy Spirit.
John 3:8 NIV says,
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
There will always be BUTS... that arise. I have found that the blood of Jesus and His voice washes them all away.
In asking Jesus one day, “What is my gift?” He answered in His Voice, “Your smile and personality are your gifts.” And there were no BUTS... about it!
It’s so ironic the walls that I put up to hide the real me were the very attributes that the Voice of Jesus revealed, were my gifts.
Are YOU going to listen to the Voice of Jesus or are YOU going to continue listening to the Voice of BUTS... in your life?
In God’s Love,
Nancy Shackelford