What if God has been speaking longer than you think?

What is up, Dreamers! If you're new here, welcome! And if you're returning, I'm so glad you're back. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know I often share the moments, lessons, and revelations God is teaching me in real time. But this space has always been different. Here, we slow the pace. We ask deeper questions. We break things down and find practical ways to move forward together. My hope is that something you read here causes you to lean in a little more to those little nudges God has been giving you. That you leave not just encouraged, but empowered...with both a word and practical tools that help bring lasting change.

Over the past several months, and if I'm honest, over the last year, I've found myself praying a prayer I don't think I've ever prayed quite like this before. Not because I was lost or doubted God, but because I wanted to make sure I wasn't building something He never asked me to build. I found myself bringing the same questions before Him over and over again.

"Lord...what are You doing in this season?"

"What are You trying to teach me?"

"How do You want me to use the gifts You've given me?"

"What do You want this blog to become?"

"Am I paying attention to the right things?"

I wasn't looking for another good idea. I was looking for alignment. Around that same time, the Lord slowed me down in His Word. And the first time in a long time, instead of reading to finish the chapter, I found myself lingering. Reading the same passage again. Writing questions in the margins and in my journal.

Following rabbit trails and allowing the word to breathe new revelation. Not because I was trying to prepare a post or message...but because there was a deep desire to know Him better.

For months, I kept finding myself hovering in Matthew chapters 5 through 8, James chapter 1, and 1 & 2 Kings. At first glance, those books don't seem to have much in common.

One moment we see Jesus sitting on a hillside teaching about the Kingdom (Sermon on the Mount). Then James is telling believers to count it all joy when life gets hard. Then I'm reading about prophets, kings, ravens, widows, miracles, waiting, obedience, victories, failures...and wondering, "Lord, what are You trying to show me?" The longer I sat with those passages, the more one thought kept rising to the surface. God has never seemed nearly as concerned with our timelines as we are! And once I saw that in Scripture, I started noticing it everywhere.

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Before Jesus healed the leper in Matthew 8, He spent three chapters teaching people how to live. Before David ever wore a crown, he went back to tending sheep. Before Elijah stood on Mount Carmel calling down fire, he learned to trust God beside a brook, in a widow's home, and in quiet places where no one else was watching. Then James put the ribbon on top when he reminded us that even our trials are never wasted. God has a way of using the very things we'd rather avoid to grow something in us that couldn't grow any other way.

The more I studied...The more I noticed a pattern. God has a long history of preparing people before presenting them. I wish I could tell you that I immediately understood why those passages wouldn't let me go, because I didn't. I just knew they wouldn't leave me alone. Then one afternoon, while I was supposed to be cleaning my house... God answered my prayer. Well...Not the way I expected. 🤭

As I shared on my socials this past week, I was cleaning the house this week and did what I always do. I picked up a box to move it… and instead of putting it where it belonged, my nosey self opened it. 😂 Next thing I know, I’m sitting on the floor surrounded by old memories. I’ve been doing this since I was a little girl. My Mimi used to call it “rummaging.”

Apparently...some things never change.

Near the bottom was the only VHS tape I still own from a Bible story collection my Mimi bought me as a little girl. I just sat there staring at it. Thirty-plus years. Countless moves. Different houses. Marriage. Heartbreak. Healing. Career changes. Dreams that came true. Dreams that didn't. And somehow... This little tape survived all of it. At first, I smiled because it unlocked a core memory. But over the next few days, more memories started finding me. The sound of TBN playing almost around the clock. The old Hanna-Barbera Bible stories. The little bottle of anointing oil. My aunt Linda calling me "the little evangelist" because if someone said they weren't feeling well, little me wasn't about to sit there and nod sympathetically.

I'd already be halfway to the cabinet thinking..."Hold on...we need to pray." 🤭To me... None of that was strange. It was normal. Then one morning during prayer... It hit me. I had spent months asking God what He wanted me to do next. How He wanted me to use my gifts. What He wanted this blog to become. How He wanted me to move forward. And then...I realized... He already had been speaking. Not through one dramatic moment. But through months of sitting with His Word. Through questions that refused to leave me alone. Through patterns I kept noticing. Through memories that suddenly resurfaced. Through one old VHS tape at the bottom of a box. He wasn't just teaching me through Scripture. He was teaching me to recognize His fingerprints in my own story.

Looking back, I realized those ordinary moments from my childhood weren't random memories. They were reminders. Reminders that long before there was a podcast... Long before photography... Long before "Professional Dreamer"... There was simply a little girl who believed God was real enough to talk to, near enough to listen, and faithful enough to answer. Did I understand everything back then? Absolutely not. 🤭Honestly, I understand Him so much better now than I did as a child. Back then, I knew He was powerful. These days, He's been teaching me His heart. And the more I've come to know His heart, the more I've learned to recognize His voice. That's why I wanted this blog to grow into something more than a place where I simply share encouraging thoughts. I want this to be a place where we learn to slow down together. To wrestle with Scripture. To ask honest questions. To pay attention to those moments we might normally dismiss. Because I've learned something over these last few months. Sometimes the answer to the prayer you're praying today... Is hiding inside something God has been quietly showing you for years.

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So before you ask God for something new this week... Take a moment to ask Him something different."Lord...have You already been speaking?" Here are some ways he may be speaking:

• a verse you can't seem to move past.

• a conversation that keeps coming back to mind.

• a season you didn't understand until now.

Or maybe... It's an old VHS tape sitting at the bottom of a box. I'd love to hear from you. Has there ever been a moment when you looked back and realized God had been speaking all along? Share it in the comments or email me at: info@marlettajammer.com

I have a feeling your story might be the very encouragement someone else needs today. And if this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to come back. We meet here on the first and third Tuesday of each month to slow down, open God's Word, ask better questions, and learn to recognize His fingerprints in our everyday lives.

Until next time...Take what you need, leave what you don't, and don't forget to share this with a friend or someone who may need it.

I love you, and I'll talk to you later.