I’m reading a book by that name by Dallas Willard. And I’ve been thinking about how I’ve heard God.

I used to “know” things without having anyway to know them. I knew when my grama was hit by a car. I knew when my friend was mugged. I knew when my friend was in trouble. I knew my friend, who I hadn’t talked to in days, was going to call when I got in the shower.

The last time I knew something, I didn’t say anything about it. I was praying with two women and I thought I should say something very specific about children. After I didn’t say it, she asked for prayers about it. That’s the last big thing like that I remember and it was eight or nine years ago.

I do know that sometimes when a friend is talking and asking for a word of wisdom, I often will say things that I think are beyond me. I feel like they aren’t me but are just coming through me. That is not some kind of possession, just that God has given me wisdom to hand them verbally. That has happened in the last few years a couple of times.

I have also heard God’s audibly, with a verse. This has happened at least three times. Once to tell me that I was with child, once to confirm it, and once to rebuke me for complaining. (Totally legit and I knew it, too.)

I also heard and saw God in a dream, actually three dreams that happened one right after the other. I woke from each, but didn’t write down what happened and in the end I couldn’t remember much to pass on to the person I was supposed to tell. Which is too bad because she really needed the full confirmation which I was no longer able to offer her. This happened 15 years ago.

It may be that I also saw an angel unawares, when I was in Europe and I fell and sprained my ankle. She took care of me, called my boss and spoke to him in Spanish, helped me in English, ordered something for me to drink in French… Actually, I think I turned her down because I didn’t have any money and didn’t want to assume she meant to pay. She ordered for herself though. And just before my boss came to take me to the hospital, she left. That was 24 years ago.

Now God is mostly silent and I wonder if I have quit listening.