When my oldest child was just old enough to speak in short sentences, he came out one day with a phrase that still sticks with me these 30 some-odd years later. As we were driving home one rainy day he piped up from his car seat behind me with, “Wook Mommy! God’s tawking!” As I glanced back I could see him pointing up ahead. Following the direction of his fingers, my eyes lit upon a glorious shaft of sunlight streaming through the steel gray rain clouds. Immediately, I knew what he meant. In all his church nursery pictures light appeared to be streaming down on various Bible characters when God spoke to them: Paul, Noah, Jonah, among others. I was delighted that at 2 years old he already knew that God speaks to us. I was comforted that in his adult years he would know he has a Creator who loves and cares for him personally as an individual. Even now, years later, I cannot see rays of sunlight streaming through the clouds without being reminded that God is talking to someone. I sometimes even go so far as to pray for the one whom God is speaking to at that moment.

Ladies, God is talking to you today. Are you listening?

God is always talking. God doesn’t skip days or weeks or months or years and talk randomly to us. He doesn’t forget about us for months on end and then think, “Oh I wonder how ole Deb is doing?” He wants a relationship with us like we have with family or dear friends, a relationship where we chat every day. How often I’ve wondered if He felt hurt those mornings I jumped out of bed and hit the ground running without stopping to even say good morning to Him. Crystal Evans Hurst in the book Kingdom Woman, which she wrote with her dad, Tony Evans, reminds us to stretch our arms toward heaven each morning before we ever get out of bed to offer ourselves to our Lord and to ask Him to show us the most important thing He has for us that day. What if your sweet Jesus, the Lover of Your Soul, were the first person you spoke to each morning?

God speaks through His written word so that we always have a concrete reminder in black and white of His love, His promises, His ways, and His instructions for us. While prayer is important for us to speak to King Jesus, reading His Word is equally important because that is how we hear directly from Him.

God will speak truth directly to your situation. Just like those rays of light streaming down from the sky, there are days I’ve felt as if God’s face were beaming down on me as He spoke. How very many mornings have I gotten up to read His Word with something heavy on my heart. Often I was going to His Word out of routine or desperation, not for a holy purpose or because I loved Him so. But even those days when I was 2 weeks behind in my Bible reading schedule, a verse or passage I read would speak directly to my situation and I would realize God Himself had scheduled that Bible reading plan years ago; He had guided me to read that plan that year, and He even knew how behind I’d be when I needed those specific words.

God speaks through others. Another uncommon but divine occurence in my life is when a friend randomly shares a verse with me that meets my need. I know in those moments, whether it is by text, in a notecard, or face to face, that God Himself has given them that word of encouragement for me. (If you feel led to text me a verse, please do!)

Sometimes He speaks indirectly and pricks your spirit with the realization of the meaning. I remember the day my college age child was furious with me and shouting at me in our kitchen. In that moment I was trying to speak Biblical wisdom to a heart of rebellion, when said child shouted at me, “Don’t you think I know everything you believe about the Bible!” It was as if God had put the words in my child’s mouth. Immediately my heart calmed down, as God showed me that my kids really did know what I believed and by young adulthood it was time for me to keep my mouth shut and let God do the talking to them in their hearts. I have no doubt that in the middle of the night when I’m not even there, my voice echoes through their minds proclaiming The King’s will and ways.

Similarly, His word planted in the heart speaks for years to come. Those verses sung or memorized in the 3-year-old class are still floating around in us. And they are still bearing fruit. If it hasn’t already happened to you, at some point you’ll have a verse spring into your mind, word-for-word that you never even memorized. God dredges up old sermons, or songs or random verses from the past just when we need them to communicate truth and wisdom to us. I wonder if He puts His Creator finger in our brain and touches just the neuron to trigger just the words we need to be reminded of.

If God can speak through a donkey, he can also speak through secular friends and media. Sometimes I’ve even gotten wise advice through an ungodly source. Yep. I know some of you are thinking, “Well I just don’t believe God would work that way.” Well let me tell you, He does. Late one evening when I was a naive college student I wanted to go to the lake with a bunch of non-churched friends. I was heading toward the car to go when one of the guys said, “You can’t go.” I was like, “Why not?” and his response was, “I know you and your mom. I know what y’all are like. I know what we do at the lake. You can’t go.” And I didn’t go. Who knows what the Lord preserved me from getting involved in.

As the storm clouds roll through today, whether they are literal clouds or those storm clouds of trial, be reminded that your Heavenly Father is above the clouds shining down upon you, speaking words of wisdom, direction, comfort, and peace. Go to His Book. Listen for His words. Seek His heart. Jeremiah 29:12-14 reminds us

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”