Still Small Voice

 

When my daughters were quite young, eighteen months, three years old, and five years old, I first began to explore the Quaker path.  The girls and I attended Meeting for Worship together.  I’d settle on a bench with a child on either side and the youngest snuggled in my lap.  Sometimes, they’d whisper a question.  I remember my eldest daughter, Rebecca, asking me what people were doing. “Listening for God.”  “Do they hear him?” “Sometimes.”  “Have you heard him?”  “Yes.”  “What does He sound like?”  Well, this stopped me short.  I had heard that inner voice but as hard as I tried, I could not describe what it sounded like.  That’s true even today, but the clarity and directness of it’s biddings continue to ring true in my life.

The first time I clearly heard that voice I was directed to lay hands on someone in healing.  That happened twice.  Each time I said “No, I don’t know how to do that.  You need to find someone else.” And each time my heart ached for having said “no” until I finally promised that if I were asked again I would do as I was bidden.  Years later, that call was repeated and for the first time, I laid hands on someone in healing. I listened carefully to the guidance of Spirit, and as I followed that guidance, healing happened.  That day I learned that I didn’t need to know what to do, I only needed to listen and obey Spirit’s guidance.  I learned that when Spirit asks, everything that is required will be provided to complete the work.  That voice was kind, forgiving, insistent, loving and yes, quiet.

Another time I was asked by New York Yearly Meeting to engage with Friends in the country of Georgia; to bring refugee aid and conflict resolution skills to that country.  I had never stepped into work of that magnitude and felt unclear that I had the knowledge or the ability to carry it forward – and so I prayed.  I prayed for three days before I heard that voice.  It was not small or quiet!  It roared “Just do it!!!” clearly annoyed with my persistent query. I asked for additional guidance but that was all I got: “Just do it!!!”  and so I moved into the work and again what was needed fell into place.

As I’ve learned to listen for and to the Presence, that voice has become a constant companion and guide.  Over the years it has become my habit to share these experiences, not because they make me special in any way – just the opposite – I share them because I firmly believe that it is possible for everyone in their everyday lives to hear the voice of Spirit as eyes and ears and hearts open to accept the reality of God’s presence and love and guidance.  May it be so.