A major theme and constant topic of conversation in our family is faith. Most commonly, that means hearing and acting upon the little promptings we receive. And “we,” in our world, means all four of us. As equal children of God, we all receive promptings, which means we have parity. Age is not a consideration. If one of us receives a prompting, we all take a pause, consider it, and determine whether it is individual or whether it belongs to the whole family.
Here is a real example. We were prompted to book a trip in September — the same September layoffs were occurring, the same season we were trying to launch a business, and the destination was a place with active volcanic activity. On paper, every reason said no. Wrong time, wrong money, wrong direction entirely.
But when it is a family decision, the entire team has to feel good about it, because God is not going to give peace to one person while excluding the others. We sat with it. We each checked our own sense of it. And the peace was there, in all four of us at once. So we went.
I am writing this over a Christmas break, in a place we reached only because we followed a prompting that made no logical sense at the time. That is the part people miss about living this way. Promptings rarely arrive with their reasons attached. The reason comes later, on the other side of the obedience, once you are already standing somewhere you could not have planned your way to. The practice is not in understanding. The practice is in the pause, and then the yes.