Dropping My Nets: When I Finally Said “Yes” to His Call
Twenty Years of Running
When I was younger, in my 20s, I could feel the stir of the Spirit and hear Him speaking to me ever so quietly. “Surrender all to Me,” He would say.
I could hear it in the still moments of the early morning. I would pause and wonder if it was really Him. And, as if in an instant, I would immediately resist and “snap out it,” distracting myself with something else. Looking back, I know it was Him lovingly calling me to “Come, taste and see” But I was too afraid.
Afraid of what it meant. What does it even mean to surrender? What would it require of me. What would I have to lose or forfeit in order to surrender?
It’s taken me nearly 20 years to find out, but ready, I finally am.
I’ve heard Him bid me to come, surrender and follow. So here I am Lord, I’m dropping my nets to follow You.
Learning to Hear His Voice
Someone may ask, how do you hear the Lord when He’s invisible?
You can’t see Him, you don’t really know He’s there?
What I’ve learned over the last 20 or so years walking this path, the more time you spend with Him, the more you sit and listen, the more you want to hear from Him, the more you are able to hear Him speak.
And in those times when I wonder if it’s really His voice, I simply ask Him to help me hear Him more clearly. “Open my ears that I may hear Your voice, and know it’s You.” There is a peaceful comfort when He speaks. There is nothing like His voice.
It is calm, and loving, and trustworthy.
And though, like in the Scriptures He simply says, “Follow Me.” When He calls you, you leave it all do to as He says.
Finally Ready to Follow
There are questions for which I probably don’t have answers.
For example, I don’t know how or why, God in His mercy, has chosen to reveal Himself to me, or anyone else for that matter. Afterall, I didn’t will myself to want for Him. Quite the contrary, I spent many years running from Him, doing my own thing. Trying to forge my own dreams. Chasing after things that I thought mattered more or were somehow more significant.
But yet, I kept coming back to Him, time and time again. Nothing fulfilled me or made me whole, like He did. I can only attribute this inclination solely to Him and His grace.
What I do now with what He’s revealed to me is what matters. Dropping the nets to follow Him.
