I can identify with John’s words.How Jesus Talks to Me
If you were to ask me, “How does Jesus talk to you?” I’d
answer, “I see Jesus as much as I hear Jesus talk.”
Before you get nervous, let me explain.
I’m forever grateful to my Junior Church Sunday school
teacher—who had to be ninety-nine years old when I was three
years old. In some tangible way, she weekly taught me and two
dozen other little children that Jesus was “always present.” A
favorite lesson was about Jesus, the Good Shepherd, whose
voice could be heard and understood by His sheep. She told
us that it was His job to look for even one lost sheep and
protect him or her, even at the risk of His own life. I often
wonder if it was this childhood memory that helped me to know
that God was reaching out to me, calling me when I was a
young adult, far away from Him and on the brink of suicide.
Rebellious and disconnected from my family at the time, and
barraged with self-destructive thoughts that accompany
alcohol withdrawal, I recall hearing a voice that day, August 26,
1976, begging me not to take my life. Soon it became louder
than the other thoughts that told me to commit suicide. If you
asked me today, over three decades later, to identify the voice
calling out to me that day, I would still say it was the voice of
Jesus. Though not an audible sound, someone was calling me,
asking me to come to Him, to turn to Him and run from
everything else. The voice was familiar, strong, and appealing.
I thought, If I follow this voice, I’m going to find safety; I’m
going to be saved.