Odyssey Connection: Revamped (Hearing God's Voice)

Hey cyber world and the few possible readers I might have! I know it's been forever, and the main reason is that I've been keeping busy. It's an old excuse but a valid one. Anyway, I'm going to try something different with this blog and hopefully get it going again.

Back when I first started this blog, I did something I called "Odyssey Connections". After a while the connections got fewer and fewer and the news got more frequent. I'm going to try to bring those back in a slightly different way. (You'll understand by the end of this post.)

Your Servant is Listening 1&2- Odyssey Connection

If you take a look at Odyssey's biblical episodes they have covered a lot of the major stories; Moses, Joseph, Esther, Jacob and Esau, Ruth, Paul, Jesus, and more recently the Early Church. Honestly I was surprised when I heard that the story of Hannah and Samuel was gonna be in album 57, only because it came with the realization that they hadn't done it before.

This episode hit me like being double flip kicked in the face. Hannah and Samuel is possibly one of my favorite stories. But just hearing it as a dramatization was phenomenal, plus they added some really deep quotes. (I'll get to those in a minute.) Hannah had it bad. She couldn't have children and then on top of that Peninha constantly reminds her of this fact. The thing I like about Hannah is that she doesn't blame God for not being able to have kids, but continues to pray that God would make it so. She kept her faith strong in the Lord. 
One of the best quotes from this episode is this;

Camilla Parker: God's never talked to me.
Hannah: God is faithful to do what he says he will do. Perhaps the problem is that you haven't been listening. That you have ears, but fail to truly hear.

Mind = BLOWN! Hello? Does this sound familiar. Let's say you're in a classroom and you're "hearing" the teacher but then when he asks you a question you have no idea what the answer is. You heard him but wasn't listening to what he said. This thought is bookended with a quote from Samuel in part 2.

Samuel: I've never experienced God talking to me like he did last night, but he has spoken to me before.
Camilla Parker: Really?
Samuel: Yes, in other ways. Like when Eli reads the words of God out loud from the holy scrolls, or in the things my mother tells me when she visits, or that nudge in my heart reminding me what's right and wrong.
Camilla Parker: I've never thought abut God talking to me that way.
Samuel: I guess it takes time to recognize his voice.

O.O If you intentionally seek God's voice you'll hear what he has to say. He can speak through many things, but if you don't really know him you can fail to recognize his voice. It's so easy to miss God's voice due to the distractions we surround ourselves with. But He's still there nonetheless. Another example similar to this, is the story of Elijah going to the mountain. There was a fire, wind, and maybe some things I can't remember, but God wasn't in any of those. Then Elijah heard a quiet whisper and God was in the whisper. Sometimes we just have to be still and separate ourselves from things in order to hear God's whispers.

Here are some discussion questions to ponder in reflection to this episode;

1. How can Hannah serve as an example for my faith?
2. How has God been speaking to me lately?
3. Have I heard him recently? 
4. Am I truly listening?
5. How am I purposefully seeking his voice?

 The whole concept of this episode has really spoken to me. Which in part inspired the revamp of my blog, and Odyssey connections. I hope to continue these with my insights from the new episodes. (Maybe I'll catch up, but I won't count on that.) Feel free to drop your thoughts, on the new episodes or anything I've said. Comments are always welcome

Well that about wraps things up, I'm Freddy Jay with another attempt at connecting the gap between Odyssey and YOU!