Sweet Friend, The Signs Were There All Along — Are You Finally Ready To Listen?
The signs we ignore are often the very things God is using to get our attention, sweet friend, and today I want to talk honestly about why we miss them.
Can we sit together for a minute? Because I have a confession to make, and I have a feeling you might relate more than you’d like to admit. I have missed some signs in my life. Big ones. The kind that were flashing right in front of me, practically waving a flag, saying “hey, you better pay attention to this!” And somehow, I just didn’t see them. Not until much later, looking back, when I wanted to smack my own forehead and say, “DUH! How did I miss that?!”
Maybe you know exactly what I’m talking about. That relationship you stayed in a little too long. That door God kept quietly closing while you kept trying to force it open. That gut feeling you brushed aside because it was easier not to listen. The signs we ignore rarely feel obvious in the moment. It’s only looking back that we see them clearly.
This is exactly what happens to Mary in my newest book, I Saw The Signs I Just Ignored Them. Four best friends set sail on a European cruise to celebrate their 50th birthdays, full of laughter and old inside jokes. But as the trip unfolds, Mary starts looking back on her own life, and she realizes just how many signs she waved off along the way. It isn’t until she hits that big milestone birthday, after walking through some pretty tough life breaks, that she finally starts to pay attention.
And I’ll be honest with you, I wrote her story, but I saw a whole lot of myself in her too. So today, I want to talk about why the signs we ignore go unnoticed in the first place, and how we can start paying closer attention to the ones God is placing in front of us right now.
Reason One: The Signs We Ignore Are Easy To Miss When We Are Just Surviving
When you are too busy trying to get through the day, sweet friend, it is hard to notice anything beyond what is right in front of you. Survival mode has a way of narrowing our vision. The signs we ignore during those seasons are not because we don’t care, it’s because we simply don’t have the bandwidth to see them.
But here is the gentle truth. God does not stop speaking just because we are too tired to listen. He simply waits, patiently, for the moment we are ready to hear Him again.
Reason Two: The Signs We Ignore Are Often The Ones We Talk Ourselves Out Of
That little nudge. That uneasy feeling in your stomach. That whisper that says “something isn’t right here.” How many times have we talked ourselves out of it? “I’m probably overreacting.” “It’s probably nothing.” The signs we ignore the most are usually the ones our own instincts already confirmed, if only we had trusted them.
As it says in Proverbs 3:5-6, we are called to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding. Sometimes that means trusting the quiet signs He gives us, even when we cannot fully explain them.
Reason Three: The Signs We Ignore Often Come With A Cost We’re Afraid To Pay
If we truly acknowledge the sign, we might have to make a change. We might have to leave. We might have to have a hard conversation. So instead, we look away, because looking away feels safer than facing what we already know deep down. But avoiding the truth never actually protects us. It only delays the moment we finally have to face it, usually with a bigger price tag attached.
Reason Four: We Have Not Yet Had Our “Mary Moment” With The Signs We Ignore
For Mary in the book, it took turning 50 and walking through real heartbreak before she finally started paying attention to the signs she had been ignoring for years. Maybe that is you right now. If that’s you, I want you to know something important. It is never too late to stop and notice the signs we ignore. Not at 50. Not at 60. Not ever.
As Isaiah 30:21 reminds us, whether we turn to the right or to the left, we will hear a voice behind us saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
Reason Five: The Signs We Ignore Are Simply God Trying To Reach Us Because He Loves Us
This is the part I want you to hold onto tightest, sweet friend. The signs we ignore are not there to punish you or scare you. They are there because God loves you too much to let you keep walking down a road that is hurting you. Every red flag, every quiet nudge, every uneasy feeling is simply Him trying to get your attention because He has something better for you.
Just like He tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, He knows the plans He has for you. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Sometimes those plans start with finally saying, “Okay God, I hear You now.”
So today, sweet friend, I want to gently ask you to look around. Are there signs you’ve been ignoring? A quiet nudge you’ve been talking yourself out of? I invite you to be a little braver than you were yesterday, and simply pay attention.
If you’d love to dive deeper into Mary’s journey and see so much of yourself in her story like I did, I would be so honored if you picked up a copy of I Saw The Signs I Just Ignored Them.
What’s a sign you completely missed until it was staring you right in the face? I would love to hear your story in the comments below. This is a safe place, and you are not alone in this. 💜
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With love and faith, Marilyn 💜