Friday, January 8, 2010

Friends and Physics

Did you ever meet someone and just click, like you were supposed to be friends? Or, have you ever heard something, and it strikes a chord somewhere deep inside, setting off the feeling of wholeness and "rightness", for lack of a better word?

There is a better word, actually. It is "resonance". Beth Moore used it in a video teaching, with the example of a piano chord. The physics definition of resonance is when an outside force causes an increase in amplitude of oscillation of something internal. Right now you are probably wondering why I am talking science to you, but this is so cool. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit in us, to guide us and testify truth to us. Picture the Holy Spirit as middle C on a piano. If someone stands near a piano and sings a perfectly pitched C, the piano string itself will vibrate, on its own, without any keys being touched. It is responding to an external force. Likewise, when the middle C in us, the Holy Spirit, hears truth, it will respond. Remember, one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to be our communication between us and God. (Romans 8:26-27.) You can see that the saying "strikes a chord" is based in physics. That resonance is the Holy Spirit witnessing that you are hearing from God.

Now that you are feeling smarter, let me tell you how this mattered to me this week. I had a rough one, and it took the counsel and loving words of a few godly friends to bring me around. I was wrong this week, and two friends, Shelley and Kristen, reminded me of God's truth. One reminded that I am not stinky to God, and the other reminded me that the my husband is the head of my household, and even if I don't agree with what he thinks, unless he is asking me to violate God's law, my problem is actually with God and not with Rob. Their counsel resonated within me, and without that Holy Spirit testifying to the truthfulness of their words, (one in particular would have been easy to argue about. I'll let you guess which one.), they would have just been kind words from friends. But they were speaking God's truth to me.

"I said to the Lord, "You are my Master!
Every good thing I have comes from you."
The godly people in the land are my true heroes!
Psalm 16:2-3

My friend Shelley has been reminding me of God's place in my marriage for a few years know. I joke that we should keep track of how many times we go back to the same conversation, because every time I hear it, it feels like a brand new epiphany. Life is a cycle, folks.

My friend Kristen is a new friend. Sort of. We met at the beginning of the school year, each of us has a son named Connor in the same 1st grade class. We keep finding things in common...our journey to faith, people we know, situations we have been in, and every time we find a new similarity we laugh and say we were meant to be friends. Truer words have never been spoken. To read about how we actually met, check out this blog post from last December. You will see that God really works in mysterious ways.

The next time something, or someone, seems strangely "right", resonating through your soul, listen closer. God may be whispering in your ear.

2 comments:

  1. Praise God Debbie! Love the visual (audio) about the music! THAT hit a chord within my heart:) Praising Him that He is bringing those around you to be your friend and "iron sharper". Love ya

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  2. Thanks for sharing, Debbie. And your friendship story is only one God could orchestrate. So cool!

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