The Father's Voice

One of the most intimate moments we've had with Harrison time and time again is when he hears our voices and responds. From the beginning early on he obtained a recognition of our voice talking to him.

I still have a vivid memory when he had an infection and we couldn't touch him cause it wasn't his care time, but we scooted chairs up next to his isolate and just spoke to him, rooting him on, praying over him. And shortly after I began talking he opened his eyes and looked at me even through being tired and sick. This melted my heart as he responded to my voice. His heart rate lowered into a more relaxed state and his O2 saturation increased.

One of my favorite moments is being able to hold him to my chest. He hears my heartbeat and I can only imagine how loud my voice sounds like as I hum songs to him. He gets so happy being right there hearing my voice and is so comfortable.

The floodgates of metaphors of God the Father loving us have blown open since Harrison has been born. I see this love in HD in new ways now that I am a dad. But this metaphor of the Father's voice has been very consistent to me over the past few weeks as we've walked through this with Harrison.

God's Word has been a source of life to us. It has been a ballast to my soul and reminded me what is true as waves of life have crashed against us. And caused us to treasure Christ more as we enjoy the sweet benefits of the gospel.

I share what is below as a bit of praying that I do occasionally. There are so many things that vie for our attention in any given day, many of them are good things. Sleep and SportsCenter are pretty constant distractions in my own life.

So I find myself praying through these verses for my own heart that I would be intentional and pursue the Father's voice. I am straight high-jacking this from John Piper's ministry. It is a useful acrostic he created to think through and just pray out loud in my own life. I've past it along to others I've worked with in discipleship.

I,O,U,S

I- Incline

Incline my heart to your statues and testimonies and not to selfish gain. Ps. 119:36

O- Open

Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Ps 119:18

U- Unite

Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. Ps 86:11

S- Satisfy

Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Ps 90:14

May the Spirit cultivate in us a healthy desire for the Father's voice, and would we listen and be satisfied in its promises that are true.

josh