“London Fog, please.”

The barista brings a swirling, frothy tea to my table and sets it down in front of me. The mug is big, white, a platform for the art of a tea latte. Across from me sits a friend, a friend whose heart is breaking. This is a defining moment in her life. Which way will she run with her pain, into God or away from God?

She shares her story with me. I listen. She is a victim of an unexpected loss. She finds comfort knowing that I am no stranger to loss myself. In that shadow of shared experience, her heart finds space to breath. This is my passion and honor, to be near to the brokenhearted.

As I listen to her story I hear similarities to my own, similarities to the last person’s story that I was honored to hold. I notice that we all have something in common, and that is the need for someone to speak into our lives. Someone who is beyond us. 

She then asks, “What helps? Is there anything that can help me right now?”

I pause, unwilling to toss a shallow response unto her courageous vulnerability. I think honestly about my own process: Time in itself does not heal, the words of people rarely help, pretending like it doesn’t matter—no—,getting lost on social media, working harder, swallowing hard and trying to move on ….

“Not much.” I respond sincerely. “But,” I look up from my shrinking tea, “There is one thing I know of that does help. One thing.”

She waits.

“God’s voice.” I let my eyes burrow into hers. Do I dare challenge her weary heart to an experience with this?

White mug released, two hands on the table, I lean in to tell her what I know to be true. “There is something about the voice of God that in a single phrase can unravel the complexity of our situation and make our hearts sit down in peace, even when there is no rational reason to do so. There is nothing like it, a true remedy. What you need most is to hear from God.”

Our conversation dries up with the tea in our mugs, but something in my friend has changed. It’s a spark of hope that there is something that can alleviate her emotional pain and infuse a dark existence with light and purpose. I take note. We are all reaching for input on our lives that is beyond us. My friend is. I am. If I am right about this premise, you also are. 

I have good news. This divine input that we so need exists.

God has a voice.

God’s voice is the power source of the world and it’s real. The sound of His voice breaks, shakes, creates, restores, fills, drains, colors, embraces, releases, and heals. His voice sets things into motion. It can move any weight. The voice of God fears nothing. It is the sound of love that drives out fear.

When you are in need, what do you reach for? Is it social media? Is it sleep? Is it pills? Do your needs drive you to food? Pull you into unhealthy relationships? Cause you to isolate? That impulse, that place you find yourself in that is unkind to you…What if that changed to being a place of encounter with the voice of God?

You can make it a practice in times of need to collide with the voice of God by choosing to turn towards Him. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, NKJV).“Proceeds” is a present-tense verb. This provision is coming out of His mouth toward you right now. 

Empty mugs on the table, my friend and I depart from the café. That is not the last London Fog that I will order, and neither is it the last person I will share this message with. My prescription for those in need remains the same—God’s voice. It is the one remedy that reaches from eternity and dares to address our needs from the roots up.

I dare you to trade in your sagging remedies for a new one.

What do you have to lose?

“God’s voice, please.”

Misconceptions about God’s Voice

What you believe about God’s voice impacts your capacity to grow in hearing from Him. Some common misconceptions about God’s voice include:

• God is distant, and therefore hard to hear.
• God is busy, and therefore uninterested in the details of your life.
• You have to be especially gifted to hear directly from God.
• Hearing God’s voice is not safe, it’s easy to be led astray.
• It is hard for certain personality types to hear from God.

Do you relate to any of these? You can break these barriers down by praying, “God, I renounce this lie. What is the truth about you?” Wait and then take note of what you sense from Him. You will be surprised at how accessible and simple it is to hear from God!

For more information and exercises on hearing God’s voice, check out “Can You Hear Me?” by Brad Jersak.