Got to get value for money, I suppose.
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You ever find you are quietly bobbing along and then He goes and takes a sledgehammer to a phrase or an image or a sound? It never used to happen.
I was “sledgehammer deaf” whilst I lived on the other side
The voice of God comes in all shapes and sizes. Fact.
How do I know?
Because you and I are not the same. We don’t think the same, we don’t hear the same, we don’t speak the same and we don’t even smell the same. We are not the same. And we were made that way for a reason. Sameness stinks. Sameness suppresses. Sameness separates.
I never used to hear those sledgehammer moments because I was taught that God spoke a certain way to certain people at certain times. I was taught that those special people were not me. Those people lived in the bible. Those people were qualified in God. Those people were not me. I was a sinner.
I was taught others who were the right people heard for me. I was taught that God spoke through them and not direct to me. I was taught that God hears me and answers me. But not with His voice. Not like I hear yours. Not like I hear my own.
Which makes hearing the voice of God seriously scary shit! Like spookily scary shit. Like losing your mind scary shit. That was my reality of my being taught I was not one those people. And a by-product of that teaching (I am sure not many of “those people” have ever considered) … ?
God becomes seriously scary shit.
To be avoided at all costs. So don’t cross the threshold – ever!
I did.
I was shit scared. And I crossed over holding my breath. And I looked back. And I saw …
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No doorway, no threshold, nothing out of place. The fear evaporated. The wonder kicked in. God gave me a hug. Life moved on. Just not the same as before. Fear of God no more. No scary shit to face. No scary shit to avoid. God’s hugs are good. He likes them back as well. God does not instruct or tell. God does not take or give. God does not demand or expect.
God is Love.
And that “love” is not scary shit either – that is simply who I can be (and I am more and more). Forget all this the learned theology stuff and get with the hugging. God gives the best hugs. And that’s how I heard Him “speak” along the way. I lost my fear of God.
He speaks “me” – and I know He speaks “you”.
We each just have to chill-out enough to hear Him speak “us” to each of us in our own “me”. Fact.
Because Love would have it no other way.
Just me being curious 
I was just discussing this concept this morning with my husband. I told him that I believed the reason our children are struggling with their self identity was partially influenced by the fact that they wear uniforms. God has been leading us to move to a different city which comes with it a different school, which, does not have uniforms. This post made so much sense to me, and this idea came to me this morning out of nowhere. Doesn’t society expect us to fall in line and all be the same? Doesn’t it strip us of our identity? Maybe that is why we sometimes feel lost and all alone, because, well, we want to feel different…. Casting a line
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I was about to write “I wore a uniform and it never did me …” but heard our Father rolling off His chair at that line! 🙂
I wish you every success with those conversations and decisions. Nurturing children is the work of love without any manual but. your own intuition and sensitivity (and a plethora of science and anecdotal evidence all clamouring to be heard).
Just as we find our true home if we listen for love, children seem a lot more resilient than we give them credit.
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