Sometimes as Christians, we’re taught that you shouldn’t tell people you talk to God… Unless you want a one-way ticket to the funny farm, via a custom ride in a padded wagon. It’s just weird. Like the homeless people in Central Park who wander around and mumble to themselves all day, or people with a nervous tick. You get labeled… put in a class of people who are somehow less intelligent, irresponsible, flightier, or naive. “Come back down to reality”, they say. And while we’re riding that honesty train, have you ever looked at someone because they hear from God differently than you do? I have. Before I knew better than to judge those crazies.

‘Cause here’s the thing. I talk to God. I talk WITH God. And I hear back. Now that’s a whole new level of crazy, isn’t it?

Take this morning for instance. I was awake with quiet thoughts, thinking about something I’m going
through currently. And then I hear it. I hear HIM. Not my husband, but a whisper in my spirit, and I know it’s God. And He says, “You’re going to go through it. And it’ll be messy, but trust me that I have your hand and it’ll be okay.”

Alrighty, then.

I don’t know what the “it” is that I’ll be going through. It kinda freaks me out a little bit. Just a little. But I heard Him say I’ll come out okay and that’s all I need to know, so whatever it is, I HAVE to hold on to that promise.

Let’s get back to the crazy part. I think the reason people think it’s weird is because they have this belief of who God is. He is big, mighty, all-powerful, and all-knowing. Bigger than any other God or deity you could throw out there. When I was a teenager, I used to imagine God was like a mafia boss. But when we place God on such a high pedestal, it’s so much harder to think that this big powerful being would reach down and converse with us. So we say our prayers dutifully at bedtime or say grace at supper, and pat ourselves on the back if we manage that AND our daily scripture reading. I’ll be honest, I don’t study my Bible every day. I should. I read it, of course. Devotions, and verses, (lemme tell ya there are some fabulous apps out there for verses and devotions by day) but I work hard at carving time to study. There is a difference and I’ll save that for another day. But I do talk with God every day. I tell him about my day… Even though He already knows. I ask Him where He wants me to go with my life or my kids’ lives, ask what He wants me to be, or thank Him for everything from food to green grass. Because here’s the thing. He wants us to. He doesn’t want us to just think of Him as the place we go when we need something, like some sort of Cosmic Santa. He wants to know us, and for us to know Him.

Think of your two favorite relationships… Maybe a significant other, and then an infant. Got ’em in your mind? Good! Let’s say with your significant other (SO for short) you sent them only two texts a day, once at supper time and once at bedtime. And every now and then you’d read a note he left for you about what’s on his mind. No interaction between you, no quiet time, no snuggle time, no sharing what’s on your heart. Would your relationship suffer? Be nonexistent? Would you even know who SO is, and worse yet, would they know you? Okay now what about that infant. What if you heard them cry, and went in wordlessly to change their diaper, or give them food. As soon as you did, you left. No talking, no interaction, just fixed their need, then poof!

Gone.

Now think about the person on the other end of the relationship. How do you think SO feels? Do you think they would want more from you? What about the infant? Wouldn’t they love to be picked up, hugged, talked to, sang to? Are you letting God do all he wants to do for you, be all he wants to be, or are you just letting him come in and fix the problem? ((Oh and by the way, did you know God sings over you? Totally not making that up. Zephaniah 3:17 says “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you… He will rejoice over you with singing.” Yeah. Singing.))

I’m not here to judge you if you don’t talk to God. I’m just saying… I didn’t always have the two-way relationship I do now. I know it’s awkward at first to try and move beyond “God is great, God is good, thank you father for our food.” and into a real relationship. And we’re busy. I get it. I promise! But when times are good, or times are bad there is nothing that can give me inner peace like giving everything that’s on my heart and mind to Him. The Bible even tells us to do this! “I cast all my cares upon you. I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.” I think when we realize that God is both big enough to handle the entire world at once, yet small enough to be concerned with the very number of hairs on our head, it becomes a little easier to start that relationship. And it really is okay to say that we talk to God. It is! And it’s okay to say we hear back too. Because if we just talk, but don’t hear back, aren’t we a little like that infant, or the SO? We’d miss out on so much with a one-way conversation!

My daughter, she’s 7, tells me it’s hard for her to hear God. And we talk about that. What God sounds like and how to recognize Him amongst everything else. I remember when my twins were babies and they would come over the baby monitor at night. Hubs couldn’t always tell who it was that was fussing, but I could. I knew them. I’d heard their cries against my chest, right up in my ear many times. And they knew mine, over time. The more I talked to them, the more comfort they found when they heard my voice. That’s so much of the heart of God. When we cry out to him, he knows EXACTLY who we are. He hears every tear, every sigh, every joy. Listening to Him speak, through His word, and eventually through His voice is exactly where we are meant to be. Like my babies… at first, they didn’t know what I was saying, but I gave them peace until they could hear me and make out what I was saying. It may take awhile. But you can do it. And when you do, it is awesome, fab-u-lous, peaceful. Good stuff. As for my daughter, I can’t tell her the exact formula, do-all-end-all to hearing Him… just that that’s how I learned to hear Him. One conversation at a time, until there’s no mistaking it.