Christine, a participant in Cohort 7 of the Listening to God course, shared this touching story. 

My mother died tragically in a car accident when I was 11 years old. The grief was devastating. A few weeks after her death, I was standing in my bedroom, looking out the window, watching the cars go by and the people walking up and down the street, laughing and talking. I remember thinking, How can life just go on? Don’t they know what has happened to me? Don’t they know that my whole world has been turned upside down?

I looked towards the living room where my dad was sitting with a Bible open on his lap, sobbing as he did every day when he came home from work. He would sit in the chair, open his Bible, and sob.

Then I looked outside and saw the people laughing and talking with their families as they were walking up and down the street. I heard God’s voice say clearly in my heart, “You have a choice. You can respond like your dad, or you can do like the people on the street.” 

I didn’t know which to choose. Laughing and talking like the people on the street seemed to disrespect my mother’s death. But grieving like my dad seemed overwhelming. Then I heard God’s voice again, “What would Mutti (the German equivalent of ‘mommy’) want you to do?” 

Without hesitation I said, “She would want me to embrace life, do the best that I can, live up to my full potential, and live out my days with joy!” Then God said to me. “Do that.” 

I only realized years later that God’s voice to me that day changed the trajectory of my life completely. Instead of being someone with a victim mentality, someone who made excuses for her behaviour by focusing on the devastating blow she was dealt as an 11-year-old little girl, I was set free to pursue joy, to grieve well but grieve with hope knowing my mom would have been cheering me on. God’s voice changed everything. 

Thank you, Christine! I am so glad you heard and responded to God’s voice. I believe many people hear God’s voice at various points in their lives, but only a few pay attention and act upon what God tells them.

Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash