Are We Destroying our Hearing?

I LOVE singing when I am on a road trip..with the volume up on the radio and the bass set to maximum! Depending on who my passengers are, they either love it or hate it! The picture above pretty much sums up how it goes when I am on the road somewhere and it is much worse if I happen to be by myself. The car becomes my sanctuary. Now this isn't all bad. We all need that special place to sing with uninhibited abandon to the Lord. (That is what I am doing- HONESTLY). The other day I had one of my "encounters with God" while on a drive. I was alone, so it was an extra special meeting. I was long overdue. I had a lot to "unload"- it was an incredible time. When it was over and I reached my destination, my ears were ringing. It took almost an entire hour and a half for my ears to stop ringing. I already have a hearing problem, and these "musical sessions" are not making it any easier. Why do I like it loud? Because it fills every fiber of my being. I  sing from my toes up to the ceiling and all the way to heaven! ( at least that is how I imagine it) I do not have to worry about anyone critiquing me or wonder if it is "too much"? I can let loose and let God's presence fill my car. It never fails. God always speaks to me and I leave the car full of the spirit and the joy of the Lord. Why can't I do this every day? For one, it would annoy my entire family, secondly. I do not "make time" for it, and third, I get caught up in the daily routine of  life. 

Ok ok 

back to the hearing problem..

It started me thinking about how many people have difficulties with communication as they lose their hearing.The word of God says

 "He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" Revelation 2:29 & Rev. 3:6

Jesus says: "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear" Mark 4;9 and Matthew 11:15

These are just a few examples and there are plenty more... we are to have ears that hear. If I am spending my time damaging my ears with loud music, will I have ears to hear? What exactly does he mean? I have been pondering this since Friday. sometimes it is good to ponder a matter

Questions I have been asking:

1. Am I  losing my hearing ( I mean my spiritual hearing)?

2. Do I have ears to hear what God says or only what I want Him to say?

3.. Is His message landing on deaf ears? What would that look like? 

Lets address each question:

1. Am I losing my hearing ( I mean my spiritual hearing)?  

When I was growing up, my Mom used to say "garbage in garbage out" - I would roll my eyes in disdain. But you know, she was right. The loudness of the music does not make me lose my spiritual hearing, but what does make me lose it, is what I choose to listen to. Am I listening to songs that back up the word of God or are based on scripture or am I merely listening for a sound that stirs my emotions, and backs up "lyrically" what I a feeling at the moment? Although we do have to be in tune with our senses, Faith is not based on a "feeling".

2. Do I have ears to hear what God says or only what I want him to say? 

Look at this! Some of the effects of hearing loss ( I mean physical hearing loss) are the same effect that happen to us too! It is one way to give yourself a "check up". Do you find yourself 

• Inattentive
• Buzzing
• Ringing
• Muffled Hearing
• Isolation
• Frustration
• Avoiding Conversation
• Depression
• Failure to respond
• Listening to electronics at High volumes 

I have always been a believer that the natural is connected to the spiritual. This is eye opening and amazing to look at! I am not saying all of thse directly apply, but is has a major connection. If I am failing to respond to God's nudges in my life, it should be a clue that I am losing some of my spiritual hearing. If I am becoming more isolated, that also can affect my spiritual hearing, we need each other and we need to be in fellowship with other Christians. There is no such thing as a lone-ranger Christian! Or maybe you hear God, but it's "muffled" -you lose your confidence that it is even God speaking to you because the voice is so muffled. What if you are where the word of God is being preached and you just can't seem to pay attention? Could that be a sign of losing spiritual hearing? Maybe? No one wants to talk about Depression, but honestly, if you cannot hear God well, it would be a pretty depressing place to be. God is not scary, He is not mean. He is gentle and merciful and wanting all to come to him, "Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you"- ( Even without the loud music- He is still there waiting for his children to LISTEN to Him)

3. Is His message landing on Deaf ears? What would that look like? 

This is pretty self- explanatory. It would look like someone living life any way they wished, with sort of " your perception is your reality" sort of philosophy-  or maybe its based on a "What they do not know will not hurt them" philosophy-- or will it? I think this philosophy has been the beginning of many people's undoing. What is our faith without hearing? Can we have some "secret pockets" of our life that we keep for ourselves and do not surrender to God? I am not so sure that is possible. Maybe your faith is more - works based and sort of a show of your knowledge? Your knowledge is not a reflection of how well you listen to God. It is just that. Knowledge. Although the word says to study to show yourself approved  the next phrase says unto God and not unto men. That is because God  is the one we are putting our faith in, not men. 

Wow, all this from a car ride with the radio up! So how do we hear God? Here are a few tips: (Oh and I still think it is ok to sing with all your heart to the Lord, as loud as you want but that is another topic) :-)

 Maybe we will discuss worship (one of my favorite topics) but for now, I am working on my hearing. (in both realms; natural and spiritual)

(This is my first spiritual line of communication:prayer) 

Thank you for Reading,

Ruth A. Hidalgo

(My family is the first natural line of communication that I will be  working on "hearing"; how about you? What is yours?) 

Joy in the Journey

     So many times in life I have had the experience of life's circumstances raining on my parade. In fact, I have been living in one of those circumstances as we speak.  (This is going to come as a shock to many of you-because I only told three people  that do not live in my community).  Since July of this year, my family moved out of our home and began to share space with my mother- in- law. We are going through some legal issues with our home. I have kept very quiet about it, grieved privately as I packed up our precious memories. That is the best way to put it because really, we do not have a lot of valuables, what we have is a bunch of junk to an on-looker, but in the eyes of our  family members, we have boxes and boxes of "treasures  of the heart". Instead of drowning in sorrow,

 I chose to continue on. To continue focusing on  things we were doing. We began a small business.We were growing, and stretching, in ways I never dreamed. One of those ways came to me as a total surprise. One of the smartest moves I made about a month ago, was to hire my husband to run the technical side of my business. He is such an asset to what I am trying to do. Then, I hired our son, Joshua to work for me too, and it has grown from there. I know it sounds so silly to "hire" family, but it has been such a unifying experience. Deep in my heart, there is this longing to be working together with my husband, in every aspect of life. It seemed like the longer we lived here in South Dakota, the more separate our lives became. We still functioned as all families do, but the main difference was I was always doing my own thing and he was always doing his. The unity we experienced working together on the business reminds me of when we were in Florida, 9 years ago, ministering, singing  and praising God side by side every Sunday for the first 11 years of our marriage. Now don't get me wrong, singing will always be my first love, but having the privilege to mesh our work worlds together has been such a sweet blessing. I enjoy every moment of it. Creating, thinking, brainstorming, tracking work and progress on projects, it is actually very fun! Who wants to go to work every day with people they do not like? Not me! Even better to go to work with a person I dearly love! I have truly found joy in the journey.

 I am so thankful for what God is doing, and this is not a sad time at all, it is actually a very blessed time. I have nothing to be sorrowful about!

It is now four months since I wrote this, and the journey has taken us yet another direction. Now, I am completely focused on home care services. With no extra side jobs, I keep being reminded that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. The Lord keeps gently nudging me to follow His lead and to trust Him with all the details. He shut doors and he opened another. I continue to serve the Lord with gladness as I go about my daily life, and God is blessing that. I had a lot of anxiety today because I had an evaluation, all these "what if's" came into my head. I prayed all day. I prayed a lot. I prayed and I cast down all kinds of imaginations of what could happen. It was a blessed day. I refuse to look down because the Lord is the lifter of my head. He is my reason for each day that I live. Yes, I make mistakes, yes, I fail. Yes, I have disappointments. But He never fails and for that I am thankful. 

Blessings to all of you and may you find Joy in the Journey!

Ruth A. Hidalgo

New Year Reflection

"With my God, I can scale a wall"Psalm 18:29

Scaling a wall is not an easy task. The psalmist that wrote this, had a lot of confidence in what he could do with God on his side. We should too! This year, the family chose new words to represent their year. I did not do good at keeping up with everyone's words, and I know I will not be doing that this year too. The main thing one word does is get you in a frame of mind. To have something to focus on through out the year. My word last year was peace. Peace  in my home, peace of mind, to cease worrying about things that are out of my control. I truly gave it my best and then some, I have to say choosing one word, for me, was very meaningful and helped me to focus on one thing. I can honestly say I found peace, and I found the secret to peace too. If you want to know more about my discoveries about peace, scroll down to one of my blogs about it. I mention it here only to testify that choosing one word was significant and meaningful for me.
I finally have my ONE WORD  for 2015: my word is ADVANCE. Advance means to press forward, to make up for lost time. When a line of solders move forward in a line, they are advancing, as they move forward, they have a plan to win a battle. They take it one moment at a time.The war is not won with one advancement, but with several.As I will be graduating from College in the Spring of 2015 (21 years later than originally planned), I will be advancing to that goal, and moving on to the next goal.(Where ever God leads me).

I thought my word was going to be trust. I was going to say I trust God to take me to new levels in all areas of life, finances, relationships and personal growth. But I realized that I do trust HIM. I completely trust God with all of my life, and I have for a long time. He has been more than faithful to me. 
What I need to do now is just advance in every area of my life, and press forward. I am not regressing and I am not plateauing; in 2015 I am ADVANCING.

Last year, I took some time to explain everyone's word and how it was meaningful to them. Realizing how deeply personal this is, after choosing one word last year, I recognize the vulnerable place it puts others in when they may or may  not want to share why they chose their word with the world. So,  this year, the other "one words; in our home will be kept anonymous. The other words for 2015 are Abundance, Achieve, Hopeful, and Win. The Hidalgo's have set their goals high! Why not?  After all,"With my God, I can scale a wall". Psalm 18:29 .. so this leads me to one more thing, as a soldier in God's army, We must have "marching orders". Many think that those marching orders are things like the Beatitudes, or the Great Commission, but I am here to tell you that in the Hidalgo home, our Marching orders come from
 Joel Chapter 2. You can read it here:

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joel+2&version=MEV

Before a battle in Bible times, the shofar was blown. If you want to know more about the Shofar, just read this article.http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Elul/Shofar/shofar.html

The Shofar is also significant for Christians as well. We have been blessed at various times in our lives to be in situations where a real Shofar was blown, for a significant and real purpose.

The word shofar comes from a root word which means to "beautify". and indeed, that is what God does with each of us. "He makes all things beautiful in His time" Ecclesiasties 3:11. 

I am reminded of our family's theme song as I write this: If you could be a fly on a wall, You would be surprised to find every member of our house sing out jubilantly :

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

They rush on the city, they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. They rush on the city they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. The LORD honors His voice, before His army, the LORD honors his voice, before His army!

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

If you are interested, here is a link to listen to the song 

Blow the Trumpet in Zion:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYK1B7ung-s

The alarm is the sound of the shofar being blown as the people of God move  forward trusting him to do what only HE can do. That is what the Hidlago's are doing in 2015! 

Happy New Year!

The Hidalgo Family