How listening to God kept me safe
Have you ever wondered if you’ve heard God speaking to you or felt God’s guidance? I’ve had many experiences where I’ve had a strong feeling of direction in time of need. I attribute that to God. These divine nudges or spiritual messages are what the Bible calls the “still small voice” (I Kings 19:12) of God. Sometimes, it might seem that the direction makes little or no sense in the moment. But when I’m willing to listen and be obedient, I’m always grateful later!
Recently, I was driving in a mountainous region that was unfamiliar to me. I was listening to that week’s Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly as I drove. There were blue skies and crisp temperatures, and the landscape was beautiful in every direction. As I listened to the part of the Lesson about Moses feeling inadequate to share God’s message and lead the Israelites out of Egypt, I thought about how every day the same sort of inadequacies try to present themselves to our thought as who we are. But if we truly understand that we are the image and likeness of God—as the Bible tells us—then no inadequacy is possible. We reflect God, good, including all His qualities, and can never be without what we need. It was a very simple thought, but I loved thinking about it.
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I got this feeling that I needed to slow down—now.
It wasn’t much later, as I was traveling along at the speed limit, that I got this feeling that I needed to slow down—now. There were no cars following me, and I couldn’t see any vehicles ahead. Yet that very strong feeling of needing to slow down came to me. I knew it was from God because it didn’t make me feel scared, but it did feel compelling.
I’ve learned that obeying these divine directives is always beneficial, so I slowed quickly and safely. As I rounded a blind curve, I saw that there were three very large cows in the road. Two were lying down in my lane and the third was standing in the other one. It was completely unexpected, as I hadn’t seen any horse or cow pastures for a while, but because I had listened, I was able to stop in time.
The cows eventually moved to one side of the road, allowing me to pass. As I continued downhill, I encountered a semi—a large truck—on its way uphill. I was grateful that I was able to get the driver’s attention and warn him about the cows in the lane that he was driving in. He thanked me and said he’d be careful.
God always speaks to us in a way we can understand—and gives us the ability to follow!
This experience was another example to me of why listening and being obedient to God, the infinite intelligence who is also Love, is so vitally important. I’m so very grateful for the inspirations and insights that I had gained from the weekly Bible Lesson before this incident because they had enabled me to be receptive.
God always speaks to us in a way we can understand—and gives us the ability to follow!