A God Who Speaks

I was searching through my documents and ran across this one from two years ago that I had forgotten about.“God is a speaking God,” the preacher said one Sunday morning.“He still speaks today, but the problem is that a lot of times we aren’t listening for His voice.” The message included several mediums God uses to speak to us. One of them is our children.

It wasn’t one of my better moments. The day was going all wrong and I didn’t feel like I was handling it well. There is some truth in the old adage, “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” for my preschool children weren’t having a good day, either. They seemed restless and bored. I was exhausted and not proactive enough to remedy their boredom.

When I finally got to my supper dishes, I heard the children get into a theological conversation, initiated by my firstborn.

“Who are you going to obey, Sister? God or Satan.”

“I’m going to obey God. Is that a good choice?” Her voice was so little and cute that I smiled slightly in spite of myself.

From his five-year-old wealth of wisdom, he answered that it definitely was good thinking, then turned to me. “Mom, whose voice are you going to listen to?”

I felt almost ashamed to say, “God.” How could I when I was feeling frustrated instead of joyful, and had been lugging the cares of my day around on tight and tense shoulders instead of rolling them onto His capable ones?

“God.” I said, rebuked.

The children turned away and I turned back to my dishes, realizing this was more than a childish conversation. It was God speaking to me through my children. And I chose to listen.