Although I grew up in a "church going family" in the 60's, we were one of those families who only prayed on special occasions such as at Thanksgiving Dinner. I sometimes wished that we prayed openly, and thought of an old fashioned picture I had seen of a little girl bowing by her bedside with her hands folded in prayer. The one time I decided to do this, I shyly knelt by the bed after I had carefully closed my door. I was embarrassed when my mother opened the door to see what I was up too. Since we never prayed outside of church, and in our tradition, never on our knees anyway, she sort of smiled, laughed, and closed the door. That was enough embarrassment for me not to try that again!
Yes, our family was a safe and loving family, but there were a lot of things we were shy about. The examples I have of the discussions we avoided in our home are God, love, and sex. We all attended church every Sunday, but at home we never said the word God. We all cared about each other, but we never said "I love you." And eventually... we all knew that sex existed, but we sure weren't going to mention that word!
After graduating from the University of Tennessee with a diploma and a pretty typical college experience, I found myself living in Atlanta. As I decided to get back to my church roots I accidentally stumbled into a church that was much more open about their God experiences. I began to hear about a God that will actually communicate back to us. I remember hearing one of the other singles in our church group talk about how her mother was an example of following God's lead. She told of a time when she was little and her family was moving to a new town They went to visit the new city and were driving around when her mother looked up at a house in front of them. She suddenly declared to her family in the car, that the house in front of them was the one they were to buy! I really didn't see the big deal about her saying this, but my friend went on to explain. She said, "You don't understand, there wasn't even a For Sale sign in the yard or anything!" "How", I asked, "How did she know that was the house to buy?" My friend smiled and said, "God told her!" I was getting interested at this point and asked what happened next. My friend smiled and said, "My mother went up to the front door of the house and rang the doorbell." "After talking with the owner, we ended up buying the house!" Interestingly to me I remember thinking, "I want to be able to do that!" It was a simple moment but looking back it was the beginning of a calling to live a life of miracles.
A year or so after this story was told I ended up being "called" to seminary in North Carolina. It was probably thirty years before I ended up picking out a house to buy because of a "knowing," but it did happen eventually, and I thought back to that young woman and the story of her mom. Through the years as a minister, a ministers wife, a mental health worker and Hospice counselor, I have had many stories and experiences to learn and experience how God speaks. I hope to share these with you to bring inspirational encouragement for your own life journey. Letting God's miracles lead us through life is an amazing and wonderful adventure that is truly unbelievable!
Sincerely,
Nance E.
