BOOM there He is!

Written By Staci Sylvester
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27 NIV
There was a time in my life when I thought people who said they heard God’s voice were
wackadoodles. First of all, how do you know it is God? Second, I think at last count there are a
zillion or so people on Earth. Of course God speaks to Moses and Billy Graham, just not us
regular folks. Or so I thought. Until the night God spoke to me. I don’t know how I knew it was
Him, I just knew. I think the “just knowing” is another one of the beautiful gifts that He gives us.
That evening a conversation began and that conversation led to our real relationship. Some
days I do all of the talking. Some days I cry and He is just there with His calm countenance.
Some days I know I make Him laugh and shake His head. Some days I hide from Him because
I’m ashamed, and we both know it is only a matter of time before I start the conversation again.
Some days I’m minding my own business and BOOM there He is.
An example of this recently happened at the gym. I was walking by a machine I had not used for
months. I had been using it consistently until the day I extended my leg and it caused a terrible
shooting pain in my hip. So I got off of it and left it alone. As I was walking by it that day, minding
my own business mind you, God said, “ You do that with a lot of things you know”. BOOM. I
thought about it. Of course He was right. If something, someone, anything hurts me once, I
usually leave it alone. Unless you are my dogs or kids of course, then I am a glutton for
punishment.
Now I have been doing this with God enough to know that there is something in His statement I
needed to really dissect. So I went home and prayed. For me that is different from our
conversations. I have heard people say that prayer is a conversation with God, but my personal
prayer time is a bit more quiet, more reverent I suppose. I also am privileged to know some
prayer (all caps!) warriors so I reached out to one and asked her to stand in her agreement with
me. While I was praying with her, I was led to remember another time God spoke something so
profound I had to text it to myself otherwise I would forget it...which ironically I did until that
moment. The text said, “Who I created you to be is way more special than who you are pretending to be”. BOOM, right?
What I took from this is God letting me know it isn’t a super mature thing to do as a Christian to
cut people or situations completely off just because I got hurt. I have been created by God. I
have royal DNA in my veins. Which means I do not have to pretend or fake anything. God made me exactly the way He wants me, and I need to quit messing with His formula. In this world full of filters and followers this can be hard, but I have no doubt this is what I’m supposed to be
working on, because He told me!
Thanks for letting me share this cool process between God and myself. I encourage you, if you
aren’t already, to strike up your own conversation. I promise it will lead to growth in your relationship. If you feel a bit like a wackadoodle doing so, I recommend reading or listening to
“The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence. Just be ready for the BOOM!