Hearing God’s Voice – Part 2
Continued from Hearing God’s Voice…
Squirrel getting ready to plant seeds
Planting seeds. The little squirrel was just planting seeds. That was what God was asking ME to do: send my book to Joy Behar along with a gracious and respectful cover letter, explaining my perspective on faith and hearing God’s voice.
So I did; and here is what I wrote:
Dear Joy,
First, I have to tell you that I love your name: Joy. In fact, that is my middle name, so it’s something we have in common. Joy is also something I choose each day, despite living with a chronic illness (multiple sclerosis), which I’m able to do because of my faith.
I’m writing to you regarding your comments about Mike Pence and hearing the voice of God as a sign of mental illness. My hope is that in sharing my journey you might consider another perspective.
I’ve written a book, entitled Garden Lessons: Listening for God’s Voice, a copy of which I’ve enclosed. It highlights through short garden stories how praying and meditating on God’s words are part of a spiritual journey; listening for and hearing God’s voice is a part of growing in faith. A synopsis of my journey is written on page 81 (About the Author). Chapters can be read in any order, but if you read only one I’d suggest “The Baby Hummingbird”, page 13, one of my personal favorites.
I firmly believe God is real; that He loves us and wants to have a personal relationship with us through His Son, Jesus; that He speaks to us through the Bible and through everything He created. My experience with Him has given me strength to face daily challenges with the assurance that, with His help, I can handle whatever I may face. I would love for you to know that assurance, too.
Thank you for your time. You remain in my thoughts and prayers.
Joyfully,
Debra J. Vaughn
I packaged up one of the color, coffee table versions of Garden Lessons and felt an urgency to mail it to Joy right away…today…on a Saturday morning! I thought, “Lord, really? It’s late morning, it’s raining and I don’t even know if there’s a post office nearby that’s open!” But, I checked online and, sure enough, I found one that stayed open until 1pm. Sensing the urgency was from God, I headed out right away.
When it was my turn to go to the worker’s window, Ha, who usually works at my local post office, greeted me, recognizing my familiar face. I told her I wanted my package to get to ABC Studios as soon as possible, but when she put the address into her computer it didn’t exist. “Oh dear,” I said, “I just got it off the internet this morning.” I reached for my phone in my purse, but it wasn’t there! I must have left it at home!
“Oh, would you like to use mine?” she asked. (Seriously? Have you ever had postal workers offer their own personal phone for you to use because you left yours home?)
“Really? You’d do that for me?” I asked. She assured me it would be her pleasure and got it ready for me to use. When I found the correct number, she even fixed the address on the front of my package and made certain it would arrive on Monday.
Driving home I was so grateful for the Lord’s provision at the post office; for this worker that went w-a-y beyond the call of duty; for using all this to confirm that I had, indeed, heard His voice as it all came together this way. Then, I began to wonder what the outcome of all of this might be: what would Joy Behar think when she got my book? Would she read it? Would it even make it past the mailroom at ABC Studios? Would she reach out somehow and thank me? Would I ever even know? Then I began to wonder if I might become a target of persecution for my faith…
To Be Continued…Part 3 Coming Tomorrow!