Tell Me More!

 by Anusha Atukorala

One day, not long ago, I turned to a friend for prayer. What I needed was someone who listened, asked a question or two to know more and then prayed for me. My friend, let’s call her Simone – did do what I asked for and I was grateful. But … she talked. Too much! The instant I shared my prayer request and before I could finish, she began sharing similar situations in her life – which in truth, had little bearing in my own. She meant well and I did appreciate her praying for me. However … she didn’t understand my need - she made invalid assumptions without first listening.

Simone didn’t understand what caring for a friend means in the fullest sense. Which is … talking less and listening more. Talking less and praying more. She in fact taught me what I needed to do, if a friend approached me for prayer. Not to talk more or make assumptions. But simply to listen. And then to say ‘Tell me more!’ Isn’t that what friendship and caring are about? Seeking to learn more about another in order to support them well! Psychologists talk of curiosity being important in a relationship. I prefer the word 'interest’ rather than curiosity. When someone is interested in another’s feelings or life or experiences, it helps. Tell me more! Three words that can make a difference.

 

A good listener, draws out another by an attitude of ‘Tell me more’ even if she doesn’t mouth the words. And of course … a good writer answers the question ‘Tell me more’ that’s asked by an interested reader. There are books and books. Some books I can leave aside. Others I can’t put down. Tell me more, I cry in my reader’s heart as I turn the pages swiftly and read more. I’m eager to get to the end of the story but also don’t want to reach the finale, because I am enjoying it too much! Have you been there? It’s a great feeling is it not, (despite it being a conundrum)!

 

Writing a best seller that draws readers wanting more, is a writer’s dream come true. These days, sadly I can’t get to the library as often as I used to (it used to be once a week – now, it’s more like once in a few months due to my ill health), so I check the writers whose books I’ve greatly enjoyed and put more of theirs on hold – then ask my beloved to pick them up for me on his weekly trip to the library. My unspoken question then towards each of these gifted writers is ‘Tell me more’! If one of their novels was an exceptional read, their other books too are sure to be enjoyable.

You know, it blesses me deeply when a friend says ‘So tell me more. What is it like to live with chronic fatigue?’ Or ‘It must be so difficult for you, not having the energy to do basic tasks. Tell me about it?’ But few people realise that it’s a way of helping me and others with chronic illness. I know that it’s not that they don’t care, it’s just that they have not experienced the challenges and don’t realise the power of being heard. People are often fixers – they want to fix broken things. But when broken things cannot be fixed ... listening is a way of fixing what cannot be fixed.

Tell me more! Three little words that can bless another. My beloved blesses me often by letting me vent and complain when I have unbearable pain or debilitating fatigue. After I share – even just one sentence, I feel so much better. And then I can move ahead to be more positive.

 

In our experiences with others as believers, we can bless them through our attitude ‘Tell me more.’ Do we instead formulate responses in our head about what we’d say in response, even before our friend stops speaking? I’m sure we are all guilty of it. And what of our walk as believers? ‘Dear Jesus, do tell me more’,  should be our heart’s spiritual posture every day. Last year, when my church Bible study group studied ‘Learning to discern God’s Voice’ – a powerful study by Priscilla Shirer, we were asked to list a few questions of what we hoped to hear from God.

 

A question I asked God that He answered most fully was: Who are you God? He responded to it in amazing ways, not once, not twice but many many times over. I learnt so much about Him that I hadn’t known before. It made me realise that God wants us to seek Him and know Him better and better. So here’s a challenge for all us. Let’s learn to write so well, that readers will say ‘I want more. Tell me more’. Let’s learn to listen to others with a stance of ‘Tell me more about your joys and sorrows. I am listening’. And in our spiritual lives, let’s have an attitude of seeking and finding God in full measure.

 

And now dear listener, dear reader, dear writer, dear friend. 

Here is my question today: 

“Tell me more about yourself. What are your own hopes and dreams? Tell me more! I am listening.”

Anusha’s been on many interesting detours in life, as a lab technician, a computer programmer, a full time Mum, a full time volunteer, a charity director, a full time job chaser, until one golden day (or was it a dark moonless night?) God tapped her on her shoulder and called her to write for Him. She has never recovered from the joy it brought her. She loves to see others enjoying life with Jesus and does her mite to hurry the process in her world through her writing and through her life. The goodness of God is her theme song through each season, as she dances in the rain with Jesus.

 

Her first book Enjoying the Journey contains 75 little God stories that will bring you closer to your Creator. Her 2^nd book ‘Dancing in the Rain’ brings you hope and comfort for life’s soggy seasons. Her 3rd book, ‘Sharing the Journey’ is a sequel to 'Enjoying the Journey'.

 

Do drop in on her two websites to say G’day! She’d love to connect with you.

Dancing in the Rain 

Light in the Darkness

When Not To Listen - By Natalie McNee

My daughter was reading “The Trouble with Larry” from the Mess Detectives series to me tonight. This particular story focuses on listening to God, your parents and teachers etc and highlights that trouble occurs when you don’t listen or pay attention. I thought to myself how true that statement was for when you don’t listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit – trouble seems to flood towards you. I thought that this would be a good subject to write about but then God flipped it and showed me when I should not listen and who I should not listen to – the voice of the enemy. 

His voice loves to pop up and it likes to shout louder than any other voice, sometimes his voice is so loud that you wonder if God is even talking to you at all because you can’t hear it through the racket inside your head. Jesus said that His sheep know His voice and they will not follow the voice of the stranger. He pre-warned us that His voice is not the only one we would hear. We would hear the stranger’s voice too but that we are not meant to believe what the stranger’s voice is telling us.

Unfortunately we tend to believe that strangers voice all too often and it becomes familiar to us and then we find it hard to distinguish who is actually talking to us. As writers we tend to be very critical of our work in the first place, added to our own criticism is the judgements of critique groups and publishers. We tend to take to heart any negative criticisms that we receive and believe that they must be true. The enemy loves to play on this negative feedback, he will often tell you things like, “You’re not qualified to write that” or “Are you sure God called you to be a writer because that was terrible?” or “How can you write about something of which you have no experience?” and so on. He likes to create doubts in our own minds causing us to question whether we really are good enough to be writers.

So how do you determine whose voice it is you are hearing? For me it comes down to two things; is the voice producing fear in me or is the voice filling me with love? The enemy’s voice says that I’m a terrible writer, that I won’t amount to anything and that everyone is going to ridicule me. I don’t want to be ridiculed or be labelled as a bad writer – I fear what others think of me. So clearly this is not the voice of God.

God’s voice encourages you, He guides you and even if you do not quite make it to the standard that you believe you should be aiming for God is proud of what you are doing.  I’d like to remind those that may question their validity to be a writer that God called you to this position. He gave you the gift to write. He qualified you to be a writer. Your validity doesn’t come from the last pay check you received or the last award you won, your validity comes from God who created you and gifted you to write. You are worthy because God says you are worthy. Even if no other person reads your writing, just know that because you wrote it out of a love for God and believing that God told you to write it you are qualified to be titled as a writer.

Photo by: freedigitalphotos.com
By stockimages, published on 17 November 2013
Stock Photo - image ID: 100218374

  
Natalie is a freelance copywriter and ghostwriter servicing the Christian market. She is also proudly a Child Advocate Network supporter with Compassion and volunteers for the Street Chaplains in her free time. To connect with her on various social networks please visit her website www.nataliemcnee.com