God Speaks to Us
It’s been thirty-seven years since I gave my life to Christ, and I’ve learned a lot since then about how God speaks to me. Sometimes I hear his thoughts in my mind, so different from my own that they stand out, as if highlighted, like the time I heard this: “I have an agenda for my life.” That one thought so engaged me that it took me on a whole journey to discover who the “I” was who had an agenda and what that agenda might be.
Another vivid thought in my mind was this one: “How can I say I love God, if I can’t love my mother?” Now that one was very disturbing, because of the truth of it—I did not love my mother. I thought that she never got who I am and I resented that fact. That one thought launched a journey of two years in which I tried to engage her as an adult daughter would, instead of a rebellious teen-ager. All that time I felt like a total bitch, talking back to my mother which I was not allowed to do as a child. After two years of trying and not succeeding, after a weekend visit with her, she was seeing us off on a railroad platform when we were surrounded by a cloud of love. And that changed both of us. From then on she was very grateful for everything I did for her and I was able to love her. All the way from Delaware to Connecticut on that train, I was floored and awed that God could take my bitchiness and turn it into love!
A third time God spoke in my mind helped me deal with the return of my husband’s illness and death: “Just hold all possible outcomes equally, and then…” I had been so overwhelmed by the return of Hank’s cancer that I was exhausted by 3 pm each day and wished I could just go to bed and cover my head and forget about all that. As I was able to hold all possible outcomes equally, my energy returned and I was given a gift of faith so wide and deep that I felt like I was the house built on rock and that nothing, not even Hank’s death could undermine my faith in God. I was able to support Hank and our young adult kids and our friends through this difficult passage.
At other times I have an impression of what I am to do: go another way home, do this next, and a myriad of other suggestions throughout my days. Some of the most interesting things God has “spoken” to me have had to do with symptoms in my body. I was just thinking lately that I used to have a lot of ear wax problems after I moved to Charlotte from California 11 years ago. When I think about that now, I can see that I was metaphorically having the hearing problems that Jesus so often talked about. I didn’t realize it then, but now I can see the truth of it.
When I have back aches, I wonder if I am standing in the truth. When I have achy knees, I think that I need to be more flexible and open to what is happening in my life. I have bunions, so what do they represent in my spiritual life? Or recently, my rosacea has erupted on the tip of my nose and I was reminded of how self-conscious I have always been. Now I am setting intentions to release all that self-consciousness in favor of a total spiritual life. And hoping that my nose will go back to normal.
I wonder what symptoms, what wisdom your body, your life is offering to you. How is God speaking to you today? His “still, small voice” can be overwhelmed by our noisy repetitive thoughts trying to get us to behave just like they did when we were children. They are the source of all our dis-ease about who we are, our inability to love ourselves as we are, and our personal lens through which we see and judge everything.
God quietly invites us to healing and purpose and alignment with His will through our thoughts and through anything that resonates with us. like a friend saying we ought to read this book or see that movie. He has a plan for each of us that would bring us to the fulness of who He created us to be. How good are you at listening to His voice, His suggestions, His invitations? How attuned are you to God in your life? Or do you already know all you need to know about how to love God?
These are questions that we need to address so that we can really become His servants here on earth. That takes an openness, a willingness to go beyond everything we’ve ever thought and experienced into the adventure of following Christ wherever He would lead us.
Perhaps you have had other experiences of God speaking to you. I’d love it if you would share them. Just email me at patsadams@gmail.com.