Is the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention?

And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.” Esther 2:7

A couple year ago I relocated to Canada for a post graduate study. After the completion of my program, I decided to relocate to a new province. Shortly after my move to the new province I got job as a cashier. Of course, this was not in my field of study, I considered it a temporary job to keep busy and pay bills while I continued my search for job in my profession.

About a month into working as cashier, I came home feeling very sad. I thought about how much money my parents had spent sending me here, I thought about how I worked hard in school, graduated with honors and this is what I get? A job as a cashier? This isn’t happening, I’ve worked too hard, invested too much to be doing this. In the next couple days, I broke down, I cried, this wasn’t the life I wanted. This wasn’t the life I had worked so hard for. I didn’t have friends or family around so I was going through this all alone. I didn’t take phone calls, I always pretended to be at work and busy even though I was buried underneath my blanket the whole time. After a few days of crying and asking God why and all my emotional drama, I finally got serious and asked God for help.

As I grew up a Christian, I had heard about the Holy Spirit. I had heard people say God spoke to them but I had never really heard God for myself. After praying and asking God for help, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I figured if He really did speak to others, He would speak to me. I sat still and waited patiently expecting an answer and I got one!

Looking back now, I realized that God sometimes allows us to be in situations that compel us to turn to Him. He sometimes intentionally takes us outside of our support systems so we can learn to listen and lean on Him and not always on others. His invitation to come into partnership with Him, His invitation to fellowship with Him can come in the most unexpected places.

The story of Esther begins with the fact that she was an orphan, a very sad and unpleasant place to be. But that unpleasant situation caused Mordecai (representing the Holy Spirit) to adopt and raise Esther. For me it was in the place of dissatisfaction with my life. It was right there He came to teach me to listen and follow His voice. Where are you on life’s journey? Are you in a place of pain like Esther? Are you in a place of discontentment or discouragement? Are you in a place of questioning with no answers? Are in a place of just desiring more of God? Could your present situation be His invitation to you? Do you feel like you’re all alone and no one understands? God understands, He is seeking your attention, He wants to talk to you, would you give Him a chance?

If I had friends and family around, I would have had a shoulder to lean on, I would have had some encouragement but I would probably have missed out on learning to hear God’s voice in that season. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to have a support system, but sometimes we are so dependent on the people around us that we totally ignore God.

If we would ever get to the place of destiny, if we would ever fulfil purpose, we must learn to hear His voice. It is the Holy Spirit that leads us to the place of destiny. Yes, He speaks to us through people, through books, sermon and lots more, but all that should never replace hearing from Him directly. “My sheep hear my voice”, we must learn to hear Him for ourselves.