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EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

It was bedtime prayer time when the 3-year-old asked, “Nana, how does God talk to you?”

Me? Others? Now that’s a heavy question. How does God talk to us?

My quick, palpable response for the little girl that night was that God speaks through our hearts. I’ve often explained it to teenagers as that heart pounding, gut-feeling, inner clicker we feel — the Holy Spirit.

As I pondered more, I went to some of my faith heroes:

“God speaks to those who belong to him through his holy Word. More than 3,000 times they said, ‘Thus saith the Lord’ or its equivalent. And because “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), we are taught what is right and wrong. Second, God also speaks to us in nature. When he created the heavens and the earth, he gave us an incredible, complex, beautiful, orderly universe. ‘For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made’ (Romans 1:20).

“Lastly, God speaks through his Son, Jesus Christ, who is revealed for us in the pages of the Bible. He is the Word of God incarnate (Hebrews 1:2), and he speaks to us by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:1). This may be the “still small voice” of the conscience that will not let us go until we do what is right — or it may be a loud, clear conviction of what God wants us to do. We must never silence that inner voice. We must check what we believe it is saying against the Scriptures to be sure that inner voice is true to God’s Word — and then we must obey, “heeding the voice of his word” (Psalm 103:20). God’s purpose is to train us in his righteousness. We must not let anything, or anyone take the place of the Bible to guide our lives.” — Billy Graham, Evangelical Association

“There’s a direct relationship between what God does in me, what he freely does through me, and the flow of the Holy Spirit happening in me. (Romans 8:26-27)” — Jack Hayford Ministries

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” — C.S. Lewis

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with himself.” — Mother Teresa

“The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” — John 10:2-5, NIV

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.