In the beginning, walking and talking with God was a daily occurrence. Though, we all know what happened to stop that. Sin had Adam and Eve hiding, fearful of God. Are we still hiding from God today, fearful of the truth we are ashamed to face? Do you really want to hear God talk to you? Just how much of God do you want in your ‘business?’ There are many reasons why you may not hear God speaking to you—and none of them are because He is too busy and does not have time to talk. If you want God to come visit you daily in your life and hear Him speak to your heart, He will honor that desire.
He promised you, “I Am with you always!”
He also said, "Seek and ye will find, knock and the door will be opened and to ask and you will receive.
He also said, "My sheep know My Voice!”
As much as you desire for God to talk to you, He desires a connection even more, for you are His Bride. Imagine a marriage where there is only silence. God wants you to know Him, and Him you. That can only happen when we listen to each other and spend time together. So, “Come –your Best Friend and Fiancé is waiting for His Bride.”
“Like the unfolding petals of a rose, so are the days of your life, the sweet odor of the presence of Love ascending into the oneness of all creation around. You are a part of all the “I AM” Existing for all eternity in My love and My Spirit. You are my Bride, My Sister, and My Garden of Life.” From Song of Songs, Ch. 5
Moving forward by First Looking backward
I first heard “an inner Voice” when I was a young preteen girl. I was very angry with my mother - don't ask me why, as I don’t remember. I went to the Catholic Church we lived across the street from. Back then the church door was never locked, and in the quiet empty sanctuary as I stood before the altar and vented my frustration, an ‘inner Voice’ said: Do not come to My altar with anger in your heart. Go home and apologize to your Mother first.
I knew this was God speaking to me (not audibly), for we were blessed to have parents who raised us in the Catholic faith and built our home right across the street from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church and the Catholic School we attended. We went to daily Mass and listened to the Scripture each day. I knew that this was God speaking, as I had heard that Scripture read several times in my short life.
I went home to apologize and when I did, my precious Mom gave me a puzzled look and said, “What for?” She didn’t even know I was mad. But God did - and that was all that mattered. He loved me—and in that moment He let me know, “I am here, and watching over you.”
Many years would pass, and as my spiritual walk continued with God, I would hear from my brother’s mouth many times the phrase, “The Good Lord said this" or "the Good Lord said that.” Oh, how I longed for that walking and talking relationship that he had with the Good Lord!
A year after high school, after witnessing my own parents transform their lives when they attended Cursillo weekend retreats; I made a retreat of my own. We are blessed here in Arkansas with God’s Holy Mountain at Subiaco. There is a Benedictine Monastery and Courey Retreat House. It was there, that as the weekend began, I would hear again the ‘inner Voice’ of the Holy Spirit saying to me:
“Why are you here?”
“To come to know You better God.”
“Then get serious.”
I was prompted to pick up a book call “Your Way to God,” which I still have. My Dad had also given me a book to read that weekend called “My Other Self.” Both of these spiritual readings led me to realize how dearly God loves us, and how much He wants to have a personal walk with us.
By the next day, standing in the glory of His Mountain, I surrender my life totally to God, saying “Do with my life whatever You wish to do. I am Yours.” Because of this deep sincere prayer, God breathed on me His Holy Spirit, and like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, I was forever changed. Even the priest giving the retreat noticed, and as he listened to me, he said, “I have read over 200 books, and you have spoken to me words found in all of them.”
By the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I was like a young Jesus speaking to the elders. Like that young Jesus, I needed to go home and mature in wisdom and grow. I would learn what ‘taking up your cross and follow me' really meant.
As for that long-desired walking and talking relationship with the Good Lord? Well let’s just say we both did some talking, and I was not always ‘sweet talking’ to the Good Lord. But a Good Friend knows - it is okay to vent and to listen and to forgive, for a Good Friend always understands.
God does not care how we come. He cares that we just come.
It is with great gratitude that I dedicate this book to Ginny Antaya who encouraged me to put what was given onto paper. Also, I want to thank Fathers Mark Stengel OSB and Jerome Kodell OSB for proofreading it and assuring me that there were no doctrinal errors in my ‘sharing’ what I know were insights from God. He leads us on right paths for His Namesake!
