Diane approached me after the Sunday service and said, “Pat, I told you I don’t like to read, but I am reading your book and loving it. The title really fits you. I told my husband that I don’t have faith anywhere near what Pat has, how does she do it?” He said, “Well, you will have to ask her.”
As I thought about her comment, I realized that I have been walking in faith and listening to the small, still voice of God for over 40 years and have had lots of practice with big things as well as little things. I have had many opportunities to exercise my faith muscles. As the saying goes, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!”
In my book, “Simply a Woman of Faith,” I share a story about how I asked Spirit to lead me to someone who really needed to know they were loved. I was guided to go up to a woman on the beach I didn’t know and tell her “God loves you.” She broke down and sobbed for quite a while. What I didn’t know was that she wanted to die and was contemplating suicide at the moment I approached her.
Many people have asked me, “How do you know it is the voice of Spirit and not just your own voice? How can you trust it is God speaking to you and not your ego?” It truly is a matter of TRUST and PRACTICE when I am guided to do something. I am learning to recognize when it is my ego and old patterns that are playing in my mind. Ego disrupts my peace of mind and Spirit brings me peace. An old ego pattern for me is when I make up a story in my mind about a person or situation that is not true. It is also called mind-reading.
I have had too many experiences when I have listened to the voice of Spirit and experienced miracles unfold. Some call it coincidences, but I call it “Godincidences.”
My heart is open and I am willing to follow where I am being led. I listen, step out in faith and trust that I am being GUIDED. It’s like I “show up” and allow the plan to unfold in the perfect way and perfect time. I wouldn’t be living in Maui if I hadn’t listened to the Voice within and followed my heart.
I trust that if I am off track, Spirit will guide me back to where I need to be. As I look back over the years, I admit it has not always been easy because my ego got in the way. I worried about what others would think of me and think I was crazy. I wonder how many opportunities I missed out on because of fear and pride. How about you?
Today, when I hear the voice of Spirit guiding me to do something, I listen because I have learned to trust it and I know it won’t go away until I do what I am being guided to do. Even if it doesn’t make sense and I don’t understand why I am being guided in a certain direction, I do it anyway. I have learned to not RESIST when I think, “You really don’t want me to do that, do you?”
For example, Spirit provided me with a very nice radio and CD player FREE because I listened and did what I heard Spirit guiding me to do. Our CD player broke a couple of weeks ago and we hadn’t replaced it yet.
My appointment was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. last Tuesday. I had a couple of things that I wanted to do before my appointment and I was running late. I wasn’t sure which one to do first, since they were both in different directions. I asked Spirit to guide me and was led to go to my friend Gail’s house before my appointment. I was surprised when I arrived at Gail’s house and she wasn’t home. I now had 40 minutes to kill before my appointment at 1:00 p.m. and the errand was on the other side of town. I wondered, “Did I really hear Spirit direct me to go to Gail’s house since she wasn’t home?”
I didn’t complain, but trusted I was being guided, although it didn’t make sense because I had to come back to the same location for my appointment. I decided to do my other errand and drove to the Rainbow Attic – my favorite consignment store to drop off some things to sell.
As I was about to leave, I noticed another customer walk in with a bag full of stuff and a CD player. My intuition told me to stop and wait to see if Rainbow Attic was going to take the CD player because they don’t always take electronics.
Sure enough, the woman had the CD player in her hand as we both were walking out of the store together. I asked her if she wanted to sell it to me and she said, “I was only going to bring it to the Goodwill, you can have it. Aloha. ” I thanked her and said, “I love how Spirit works on this island.”
I now understood the timing of it all and that if Gail had been home, I would not have been at the Rainbow Attic at the exact time I needed to be there for this to happen. I arrived home with a NEW CD player and Larry and I can now practice our dancing again. God is so good and His timing is perfect!
Another example of when I was guided happened a couple of weeks ago when I was taking my walk. I heard Spirit say to call an old friend of mine that I hadn’t spoken to in a few years. When I was done with my walk, I found a nice shady spot to sit and call her.
After catching up on how we both were doing she said, “Patti I can’t believe you called now because just yesterday I found a letter that you had written me many years ago in a drawer that I was cleaning out. The thought briefly went through my mind – Patti is busy now, she probably doesn’t love me anymore. It didn’t stay long because I knew it wasn’t true. Here you are calling me and letting me know how much you love me right when I needed it the most.”
I am grateful that I have learned to listen and trust the small, still voice of God within (also called intuition). I encourage you to “go within” and listen to the Voice of the Spirit that wants to give you guidance in every area of your life. Larry will be back writing next week.
I was going through a difficult time in my life and recently asked my friend Lisa for a CD on How to Pray the Rosary. Something interesting happened that night. When I opened my eyes in bed, I noticed dark shadows on the wall and told my friend Joanne about it the next day at lunch. She gave me her rosary beads from Jerusalem and suggested I pray the rosary. She also told me she would get me a crucifix.
The next week I went to church and prayed the rosary. Something powerful happened and I knew God was touching my heart deeply. I felt so peaceful after I prayed. I asked God for a sign before I left the church. As I walked to my car, I spotted a royal blue pouch with rosaries beads in it in front of my car door. They were gorgeous rosary beads with a locket and a picture of 2 little boys. I knew someone had lost the beads and I wanted to find the owner. I left a note in the church with my telephone number. A few people called who had lost beads, but they weren’t the beads that I found.
I received a call on Christmas Eve and the woman described them perfectly to me. I returned them to her all wrapped up with a bow. She told me she had no idea how they got in front of my car. She was elated that the beads were found and sent me a package to thank me for returning the beads. Inside the package were some prayer cards and the CD I wanted on How to pray the rosary. There is no way she could have known that I asked my friend for the CD the week before.
On New Year’s day I received a call from a woman named Kelly asking me about the rosary beads. I told her that the beads were with their owner. She sounded so sick on the phone that I asked her,“Are you drinking tea and eating chicken soup”? She said, I’m drinking tea, but I don’t cook, I’m eating Kust Progresso canned soup.” I decided to make her a pot of chicken soup and delivered it to her home. She was so appreciative and gave me a gift. She said, “I know I am supposed to give you this.” I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the box. In it was a beautiful crucifix (that my friend Joanne said she was going to give to me).
Something deeply profound has happened in my life and I am so grateful to God for hearing my prayers and healing me. My eyes are opened and miracles are happening all around me. All I had to do was ask and be willing to receive. In Pat’s book, Simply a Woman of Faith, she calls them GODincidences. And so do I.
Lana Drew
Posted by admin in 
