God With Us: When He Speaks

 

“He who is of God hears the words of God…” John 8:47

I have never heard the audible voice of God, and neither has Justin. Let’s just start there. But there are undeniable times when we sense His directing us, or prompting us in one direction or another. Often times we don’t stop to think about the Source in the moment, we just act on it and later recognize where it came from. How do we know it’s Him and not just gut instinct, or our own ideas? Whenever it is something - a thought or action - that aligns with His Word and usually goes against our own personal preferences and comforts, then we know it wasn’t “of us.” 

For example, I once spotted a lady driving into a gas station and felt a strong urge to step out and pay for her gas. I like doing nice things (especially for nice people), but it is not my nature to approach strangers or strike up a conversation, not to mention spend money when we’re already on a tight budget! It turns out God knew all of that too, and I ended up being much more blessed by that woman than she was by my offer to fill her tank. He did the prompting, but I had to act in order to receive the blessing. This principle is all throughout Scripture. 

Sometimes His purpose is for our protection. He is called “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalm 46:1. We’ve experienced this in a very personal way since taking to the road, and I’ll share two such examples here. 

The first happened on our long trip back down the freeway from the Canadian border to central Washington. It was a cloudy day with bad traffic and just right in the middle of our Murphy’s Law week. Justin had forgotten to fully secure Dezi’s bike to the bike rack and just as he remembered it, a fellow RVer flashed his lights to let us know, so we pulled over. He had lost two straps but bungee’d the bike down and we continued on. As we were on our way out of Seattle and starting to head east, Justin noticed a bike tire behind the RV in his sideview mirror; something he isn’t normally able to see. He again found a place to pull over, albeit a very tight and unsafe freeway shoulder, and discovered that Naiya’s bike had been pushed loose from the overhang bar holding it down (from the weight of Dezi’s bike leaning on it) and somehow flipped completely over; the back tire wedged in the tire hold and a thin cable were all that were keeping it on the rack. No one had honked or waved or signaled in any way that this had happened, and hardly anyone even bothered to move over a lane to pass while we were pulled over, even with the bike hanging out. I couldn’t believe it! Several more miles down the road we were finally away from city construction zones and heavy traffic, but out of nowhere we heard a car honk. It didn’t seem like it was at us and the only car that passed by made no motion, but Justin felt the urge to stop and check the bikes again. Everything looked fine, but “something” made him check the trailer tires, and he discovered that we had picked up a nail in the right rear. He had me watch the tire monitoring system while we attempted to find a spot for him to change the tire, though we were along a stretch of freeway with few exits and even fewer flat roads or wide spaces. We eventually found a place a few miles off the freeway by a gas station, and were able to safely make it to an open tire store down the road (it was of course a late Friday afternoon) before continuing on to an open spot to overnight. 

We could definitely have been upset about the annoying bike ordeal, having to stop so many times (which is not easy with a big rig in tow) and probably picking up the nail because of stopping on the shoulder. It was an exhausting day and not our idea of a good time. However, we’re also very thankful that it didn’t turn out any worse. The tire pressure was rapidly dropping, and we’ve heard horror stories of the damage that blown tires can cause to the underbelly of an RV. What was it that made that car honk in the middle of nowhere? Would we have stopped that last time if the bikes hadn’t been an issue before then? And how in the world did Justin just happen to notice a nail in a tire that’s probably a good 10ft away from the bike rack he was checking? Pretty wild. 

The second instance was en route to Jackson, Wyoming from the Getaway in Idaho we had just been to. Our drive took us south from Island Park to Victor, where we turned southeast and climbed the Teton Pass toward Wilson. We’ve gone over several passes with the rig before, so this was nothing out of the ordinary and we’re used to hearing the truck laboring during the ascent. Near the summit, though, Justin again had “that feeling” and decided to stop when there was a big enough pull-out. It was neat since it turned out that’s where the “Jackson Hole Yonder” sign was and we got to snap a picture, but on the way back to the truck I noticed the rear landing gear/stabilizer leg on the RV was hanging almost all the way down, barely an inch or two above the ground. Again, we were forced to find flatter ground by driving another 1/2 mile down the road to a bigger turnoff, where Justin was better able to inspect the issue. It turned out the bolts holding the motor on had both fallen out and the leg had gradually shaken down as we were driving. Justin jerry-rigged the leg back in place until we were able to get replacement bolts, but man, could we have caused a lot of (expensive) damage if it had been allowed to drag. The bottom didn’t even so much as scrape one time. Thank you for watching out for us again, Lord!

Bad and unfortunate things happen to us all. It’s a fact of life. But I would encourage you to look for the things that God has protected you from, and all of the ways it could have been much worse if it wasn’t for His provision. Even when circumstances appear to be at their worst, remember He is “a very present help in trouble.” So look for Him, and be sure to listen for His words.