Hey Beautiful!

I’m so grateful you’re here.

Have you ever wondered if God was speaking and you just weren’t hearing Him?

I have.  It really seemed to hit when I was hearing people talk about the words God had given them.

As I started writing this letter, I realized it wasn’t about a word of the year, as I had initially thought.  It was about learning to recognize the ways God has been speaking to me all along.  Although that was my plan, God had other ideas.  And as always, He was right.  Before talking about what word God is giving you, I think it’s important to talk about how to hear from Him in the first place.

How do I listen?  How do I hear God speak to me?  What if I’m doing it wrong?  How do I know if I’m doing it wrong?  I could keep going, but I’m sure you get the point.

The problem was that I was expecting God to speak to me as everyone else does.  That I would hear His voice audibly.  I would even find myself joking that I would need Him to use a neon sign to speak to me.  Then one day, as I was driving through Ohio, there was the billboard, and I knew it was for me!  Those are some of my favorite moments, and I hope to explain more about this one in a future letter.  When I see something that I know was from God just for me!  Looking back, I was so focused on the one way I thought God was supposed to speak to me that I was missing the other ways He was.

What I am learning is that God speaks in different ways in different situations to different people.  Have I heard Him audibly?  Possibly, but if it was, I didn’t recognize it at the time.  I clearly remember several times when I asked Nathan or the kids what they wanted after I heard them call my name, only to hear that they hadn’t said my name.  Now, I wait to hear it again, so I can be like Samuel and answer Him.  “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening”.  How cool would that be?!  I can only imagine that He would speak audibly in response.

Once I realized God wasn’t limited to speaking audibly, I started to wonder, “How does He speak to me?”  One of my most frequent prayers over the past couple of years is that I hear the voice of the LORD and that I am radically obedient to Him.  In order to be obedient, I need to hear what He is saying.  Since I didn’t know how to do that ~ I needed to learn!

1. God speaks through His Word.

In the fall of 2023 I started reading the end of a Bible in a year.  Yes, I started at the end of it, but it’s better than not starting at all!  Once I had made the decision, why wait until January was my thought.  Having been a Sunday school teacher for the past 15+ years, I was aware of many different accounts from the Bible.  However, as I read through them this time and in the years since, I have found that different pieces jump out at me each time.  I have come to realize that God is speaking to me through His Word.  When something stands out now, I slow down and pay extra attention to the words I am reading.  It also helps to ask Him what He wants me to know from these verses.

2. God speaks through journaling.

Journaling has been one of my favorite ways to hear from Him.  I will never forget the very first time I journaled with God.  It was September 2024.  It was the last day of a women’s retreat in Southern California, a morning of worship.  I sat on the couch, blank journal in hand, having no idea where this was going to go.  Emily wanted us to write a “love letter from God” to ourselves.  We were to start off with the following words:  My beloved daughter.

I sat there with those words written at the top of the otherwise blank page.  I didn’t know what I was supposed to write.  But I believe that was what I was supposed to learn.  This wasn’t about me trying to come up with the right words.  It was about letting the words flow through me.  Letting His words flow through my pen and onto the paper.  And finally, I let go of the control and let my hand write the words as quickly as they came to mind, without allowing myself to judge them.  It didn’t take long for me to be overcome with what I had written down.  I stopped, reread what I had written, and just sat there listening to the music, overcome by the love of my heavenly Father.

That morning, in that room, I learned that God can put thoughts and words on our minds.  Sadly, so does the enemy.  Our job is to recognize those thoughts and words, discern their source, and respond accordingly.  The more time I spend in the Word, the better my discernment gets, because God will never say anything that goes against the Bible.  I learned that recognizing the words of the enemy was easy, because with them came fear, judgment, shame, and condemnation.  Whenever I have these thoughts now, I correct them with truths from God’s word.  You will recognize what’s coming from God because, for example, they will bring conviction to do better, not condemnation for what you did.  God’s word will always align with His character and produce the fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

3. God speaks through others.

I have also learned that another way God will speak to me is through others.  When God has something He wants me to do, He will continue to confirm it by speaking it to me in various ways until I finally realize it’s from Him.  I have to admit that I can be a little slow at recognizing His voice from time to time.  I am grateful that He has so much patience for me as I try to improve!

In case you have never experienced journaling with God before, I would like to share with you a portion of the very first love letter God wrote through my hand and right to my heart.

Legacy Reflection:

Grab a journal for your time with God.  Pick a special place, turn on some worship music, start your letter, and let the words flow through you.  Don’t worry about getting every word right; just invite God to speak and write what comes to mind.  Afterward, compare what you have written to Scripture, because God will never speak anything to you that contradicts His Word.

“My beloved daughter ….”

God is still speaking.  My prayer is that this week you begin to recognize His voice in ways you never expected.  I can’t wait to hear what you experience!!

Love ya,
Laura