God's voice

[phylodog]

I spent the majority of my life disregarding those little voices in my head. Diagnosed as hyperactive as a kid (pre ADHD) I've always just attributed them to something wrong or different with my brain, a minimal distraction at worst. That changed about six months ago and a lot has changed with it. I won't go into lengthy details or get preachy but wanted to share this story, maybe it's meaningless or maybe it'll get a few people thinking.

The weather is garbage out here today. 21*F and 20mph steady wind had me trying to decide if I should put the horses out or leave them in until the wind relents. They don't have much to block the wind and they're pretty pampered so this isn't an unusual decision. I decided not to be in any hurry to put them out and was helping my wife get the house cleaned up. She had a few trash bags brought down from upstairs so I decided to take them out. As soon as I cleared the back door the wind hit me and if nothing else, solidified my decision to leave the horses in. I walked the trash bags over the the big bins outside and turned them so the wind wouldn't blow the lids open. I was not enjoying the breeze up my tailpipe and was ready to get back inside as quickly as possible, but something, some thing told me to put the horses out. I don't hear it often and when I do it's still very subtle and easy to disregard but it is unique among other "thoughts" that litter my mind most of the time.

I started walking out to the barn, grumbling about the cold and as soon as my nose cleared the threshold of the open barn door I could smell it. Smoke. I looked around the corner of the divider wall I put up a few years ago and saw the heat lamp, which had been providing comfort to the two small 4H piggies my daughter brought home Wednesday was now lying face down in the pine shavings. The aluminum shroud was singed and a dark smoking spot had spread over about a 12" x 18" area of the pine shavings and the piggies were in the opposite corner, still sleeping. I picked up the heat lamp, unplugged it and sat it where it wouldn't ignite anything, grabbed a bucket sitting next to the water hydrant and put the smoldering shavings out.

Our barn, especially pre spring cleaning time is literally covered in a few inches of bone dry hay. Busting bales open and carrying the flakes to the other side of the barn to feed leaves a lot of hay everywhere. Those smoldering shavings were within a couple of inches of getting to the hay and from there the entire barn would have gone up in minutes. We'd have lost our four horses, two goats, both piggies and likely a handful of chickens which like to hang out in there when it's cold.

I'm thankful for that voice. Call it what you will but I know what it is, I know who it is. I'm thankful that I have ears to hear it now, that I know how to listen for it.

 

[Lpherr]

Intuition. I've had similar experiences and I've learned to listen to that voice myself.

I'm glad you listened and took action, and you didn't have any loss.

 

[snorko]

A cynic would say you subconsciously smelled the smoke and reacted to that. Faith supports a gently nudge from above. I am just happy the horses and piggies are OK.

 

[BigRed]

I spent the majority of my life disregarding those little voices in my head. Diagnosed as hyperactive as a kid (pre ADHD) I've always just attributed them to something wrong or different with my brain, a minimal distraction at worst. That changed about six months ago and a lot has changed with it. I won't go into lengthy details or get preachy but wanted to share this story, maybe it's meaningless or maybe it'll get a few people thinking.

The weather is garbage out here today. 21*F and 20mph steady wind had me trying to decide if I should put the horses out or leave them in until the wind relents. They don't have much to block the wind and they're pretty pampered so this isn't an unusual decision. I decided not to be in any hurry to put them out and was helping my wife get the house cleaned up. She had a few trash bags brought down from upstairs so I decided to take them out. As soon as I cleared the back door the wind hit me and if nothing else, solidified my decision to leave the horses in. I walked the trash bags over the the big bins outside and turned them so the wind wouldn't blow the lids open. I was not enjoying the breeze up my tailpipe and was ready to get back inside as quickly as possible, but something, some thing told me to put the horses out. I don't hear it often and when I do it's still very subtle and easy to disregard but it is unique among other "thoughts" that litter my mind most of the time.

I started walking out to the barn, grumbling about the cold and as soon as my nose cleared the threshold of the open barn door I could smell it. Smoke. I looked around the corner of the divider wall I put up a few years ago and saw the heat lamp, which had been providing comfort to the two small 4H piggies my daughter brought home Wednesday was now lying face down in the pine shavings. The aluminum shroud was singed and a dark smoking spot had spread over about a 12" x 18" area of the pine shavings and the piggies were in the opposite corner, still sleeping. I picked up the heat lamp, unplugged it and sat it where it wouldn't ignite anything, grabbed a bucket sitting next to the water hydrant and put the smoldering shavings out.

Our barn, especially pre spring cleaning time is literally covered in a few inches of bone dry hay. Busting bales open and carrying the flakes to the other side of the barn to feed leaves a lot of hay everywhere. Those smoldering shavings were within a couple of inches of getting to the hay and from there the entire barn would have gone up in minutes. We'd have lost our four horses, two goats, both piggies and likely a handful of chickens which like to hang out in there when it's cold.

I'm thankful for that voice. Call it what you will but I know what it is, I know who it is. I'm thankful that I have ears to hear it now, that I know how to listen for it.

My Dad would say, "God talks all the time. We just have to listen."

 

[dieselrealtor]

A still small voice

 

[jwamplerusa]

You sir, are blessed.

 

[rob63]

I hope you won't mind me piggybacking. I rarely tell this story, people look at me a little strange after hearing it.

Many years ago, I used to question why I was so drawn to guns, it just didn't seem right for someone claiming to be Christian. I collect military weapons. I would pray about it, and a small voice would tell me not to worry about it right now.

One day my wife turned to me and showed me an ad for an adoption agency that dealt with Russian orphanages and said she wanted to go to a meeting. We already had a daughter, but were getting a little old for another pregnancy.

We went to the meeting and I left it not too sure what to think about it. I mean it's a big step in the first place, it was also going to be incredibly expensive as well, and then Russia, of all places. As I reached the car a voice exploded in my head. I don't mean that small voice that I was used to hearing, I mean a voice that literally drove me to my knees. It told me that I was going to do this, and that this was the reason I had all of those guns. I was going to sell my guns to raise the money.

No matter how much I may have wanted to, this wasn't something that I could ignore, so I started selling some guns. It was very strange, people would get in bidding wars for the items I was selling, driving the price way above anything I could have expected to get for them. One guy told me that he didn't understand it, but a little voice was telling him that he had to buy my gun and it didn't matter what the price was.

My wife's boss called her into his office one day and told her that he had been reviewing salaries and realized that she had been underpaid for years. He then gave her a raise, and a $10,000 bonus, completely out of the blue. Things like that just don't happen!

Needless to say we quickly had the necessary money for the adoption.

Fast-forward to today. If not for all of this, my son would now be a 21-year old in Russia. Stop and think about what that means for a second.

HE makes a difference if we will let him.

 

[pute62]

I'm grateful that you're barn is safe and sound along with the animals.
I've been in the hospital the last 3 days and the only one I've had to talk to is God, and he's answering. He's preparing me for what's to come next and I'm happy about that.

 

[Usmccookie]

I have recently had a coming to Jesus moment, or rather couple of months and it came to my being in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. Since then I have completely had a gear shift in a corny Christian movie kinda way. Hearing these stories just reinforce what I have come to accept.

Thank you all for sharing.

 

[Frosty]

Man I’m glad you went to the barn. A neighbor about a mile down the road just lost his whole barn and I’d guess most if not all his head of cattle to a fire a couple days ago.

I had a similar experience, I unhooked the shift interlock on my old car my daughter was driving, I was apprehensive about it because she was a new driver but I did it. A couple weeks later I woke up to the car on fire but I was able to take it out of gear and push it away from the house because I unhooked the interlock.

 

[phylodog]

I'm grateful that you're barn is safe and sound along with the animals.
I've been in the hospital the last 3 days and the only one I've had to talk to is God, and he's answering. He's preparing me for what's to come next and I'm happy about that.

I'm happy for you brother, I'm ready whenever my day comes.

 

[Frosty]

I also remember when my son was about 2 or 3 and wouldn’t do anything he was told, that small voice said, very loudly mind you, “Let him be stubborn, it will serve him well in life” that one almost brought me to tears.

 

[stocknup]

 

[stocknup]

I'm grateful that you're barn is safe and sound along with the animals.
I've been in the hospital the last 3 days and the only one I've had to talk to is God, and he's answering. He's preparing me for what's to come next and I'm happy about that.

I am hopeful that you have friend and family there with you also , whilst sharing your talks with the Lord !

 

[MrSmitty]

I don't go to church, but was raised in the church of Christ. I believe in God, I believe in the power of prayer, I believe God can do anything, I believe we entertain angels unaware.. That voice we think is intuition, or a small voice in our head, I think, and believe is God talking to us, we just need to listen, OP, I'm glad you listened, and that the animals are safe.. I have a God helped us story, but will save that for another thread, and time ...

 

[doddg]

I love reading personal stories like this where people are sharing their story, their journey, as God intersects in their lives.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Cameramonkey]

You are blessed, brother. Glad you listened.

And I too am slightly jealous of Pute in a way. Closer to his reward.

Yeah. God speaks if we are willing to listen. And sometimes he guides those of us too stupid to be paying attention so that one day we finally wake up and look behind us and say "wait, what? No way!"

I don't go to church, but was raised in the church of Christ. I believe in God, I believe in the power of prayer, I believe God can do anything, I believe we entertain angels unaware.. That voice we think is intuition, or a small voice in our head, I think, and believe is God talking to us, we just need to listen, OP, I'm glad you listened, and that the animals are safe.. I have a God helped us story, but will save that for another thread, and time ...

What the heck. Let it fly here. The thread title is perfect for these stories.

My story isnt quite as dramatic, but Ive had a series of professional "coincidences" that I cant ignore the timing of.
I was working for a consulting company for years starting in 97. They spun off a product and went public in 2000. For a time, I was worth $1.8M on paper with my stock options. I was told that the new product was SO big and industry changing, we were getting out of the consulting biz and putting all our eggs in the new product basket so we could all be millionaires in the healthcare insurance claims processing business. But luckily one of the guys helping with the IPO had a frat brother that did consulting. So we turned all our clients over to them.

One of the owners didnt want to totally put all his eggs in one basket so he took me and left to pursue other ventures. So for a summer I worked at his horse farm (the former Baumeister Estate) doing whatever needed done like tending to the horses, bush hogging, fence stuff, etc. Probably the best summer of my life when you included the toys on Lake Monroe he let me use. Then one day in the fall his assistant took me aside and let me go. None of his projects were coming through and he just couldnt keep me on. I was heartbroken, unsure what to do.

3 days later one of my consulting clients called my cell. "Look, I know you dont do this stuff anymore, but can you PUHLEEEEEEZE come help us? These new guys are morons!" I had nothing better to do so I said "sure". Over the next 2 weeks my phone rang off the hook. One by one, each of my consulting clients "coincidentally" reached out to me to ask if I could bail them out "just one time, even though I no longer did consulting." By the end of that two weeks, I was self employed with ALL of my consulting clients back like I had before. None of them had any idea I had been let go, they all just decided at the same time to give up on the other company. That's no coincidence.

2 years later, business was drying up. I was having trouble paying bills and had no idea what I was going to do. I was losing more clients to attrition (and friends of my clients who were getting into the biz). My largest, oldest customer from the company that I really hadnt done that much with in the past 3 years called out of the blue. "Can you quote me a price to upgrade all 15 sites to real servers and Active Directory? We have outgrown our Lantastic network that uses a regular PC at each site as a server." I said "Wow. That is a HUGE project. It is going to probably take about a year, and you are probably looking at 6 figures. plus there will be a LOT of ongoing maintenance. Why don't you just hire me?" Her response was "When can you be here for an interview with my boss?" 19 years later, I'm still here at an AWESOME company with great people.

Looking back there are just too many "coincidences" for this to be anything other than God taking pity on me and guiding my path. And it wasnt until years later I was able to look back and realize just how blessed I was, and how many times things just fell into place.

Oh, and that "earth shattering software that was going to completely revolutionize healthcare"? Yeah, never happened. I think they got bought out for the technology and are now doing just a fraction of what they intended because it was just too heavy of a lift.

 

[kawtech87]

Visions, dreams, a voice that sounds like rushing water.

15 years ago I wouldn't have believed any of it. Now, I've experienced all of it.

Signs, wonders, miracles follow those who believe.

 

[spencer rifle]

Mine is just a little dinky story, but illustrative. Well, this one is - there are more expansive ones also.

Back when we first started having kids, they were often cranky and colicky. We took turns getting up in the middle of the night. Whoever was on duty would bring the baby in to our bedroom to be fed, do the changing and swaddling and getting the baby back to sleep, which could be a challenge.

I was still working and had to get up early in the morning, so I took to praying "Please Lord, you don't owe me anything, and I'm not deserving, but if you could let the baby sleep through the night, I would be grateful."

And so it happened. I didn't tell SWMBO of my prayers, and she eventually noticed that the baby always seemed to sleep on my nights but not hers.

He even cares about the little things.

 

[doddg]

I am so enjoying hearing of member's stories of their "journey."
For those like myself, growing up "Churched," it usually takes a dose of suffering and hardships for them to "get it."
In my foster home, my older brother of 4 yrs., rejected God & died in prison at only 20 yrs. old, while I was starting college to begin a different life.
But, "for the grace of God, go I," was so true in my life & the stories in the lives of others is where I really learned which direction to choose so my life would be "in the light," and not trying to struggle due to bad choices to fight my way out of the darkness like many family members & friends.

Fortunately, God loves us enough to give us what we need to get our attention if we are seeking truth.
Keep the stories coming, they are refreshing!