How Do We Know It Is God We Hear?

I have often said that I know God is speaking to me when I hear the same thing more than once. Anyone who knows me, knows I talk to loud, talk a mile a minute, change subjects in mid-sentence and then later pick up the subject I changed. In other words, the life I led for many years as a police/fire dispatcher, gave me bad habits. I have no doubt other dispatchers could keep up, but not to many other people.

So, how did I know several years ago we were destined to move to Aberdeen, Washington? I didn't, I heard a voice on a plane say: 'you are moving to Aberdeen,' and since we were on a plane bound for Washington state, I took it to mean Aberdeen, Washington...if there WAS an Aberdeen. All the years I spent growing up and visiting family in Bellingham, Concrete, Sedro Wooley, Blaine, Ladner, etc. I had never heard of Aberdeen.

Things were forgotten on vacation with the exception that I did discover there is and where Aberdeen was. When we returned back to Arizona, I kind of forgot about it until I went back to work and there in my inbox was an invitation to a Grays Harbor 911 APCO conference being held in Aberdeen, Washington. Okay, so it was meant for my boss and somehow wound up in my inbox. I told my husband about it and said, you know how God speaks to me and this is the second time. Hubby, just snarled!

A few weeks later, the Arizona Diamondbacks had won the World Series and were coming home to Phoenix. Hubby and our son Justin and his wife decided it was a perfect time to go fishing for 3 or 4 days and since I had time off, I would watch the baby. The night of fan appreciation, son #2, Adam and I decided to pack up the baby and go to the stadium to welcome our team home. I was feeling great.

During the celebration, I began feeling ill, my ears hurt, my throat was hurting, so Adam decided it was time to leave, he drove us to our local Denny's and bought us dinner (I had soup). The next day, it became apparent, I had some kind of a bug, but since everyone was still gone and I had the baby, we just kind of laid around. Praise God, the crew came back around noon that day, because I was so sick by that time, I was crawling around the floor as I didn't have the strength to stand up and walk.

Detetmination and a false sense of my employer needs me, I was going to work and hubby told me he didnt' see how...he went outside and called my boss and then made a doctor appointment. Seems, this old gal had developed pneumonia. I went home with anti-biotics and a note for work. The next morning laying on the couch and hubby sitting nearby, we were watching televison when we hear on GMA the weather in Aberdeen, Washington & that was it, I was determined God wanted us to move.

Long story short, hubby found a job, applied on line, had a telephone interview and was hired. He moved up here in November 2006, the day he began work, I broke my tibia and fibula and would not make the move up here until June 2007.

Besides hearing Aberdeen, I also heard that we would sell our home for $165,000 a price unheard of in our neighborhood since it was manufactured homes on our own lots and surrounded by dairies and farms. It was also the heyday of the real estate frenzy. We had friends buying home and selling them 2 weeks later for huge profits. We listed the house and as God stated, it sold for exactly $165,000.

Since then, it seems as if God has cut all communication off. I haven't been able to find full-time work and I have to admit working for the school district I enjoy having week-ends, holidays and summers off, however, I do not enjoy seeing my husband working himself to death 6 days a week to make ends meet. I do not enjoy seeing the credit agencies on the other end of my telephone or receiving legal notices from attorneys for money we do not have.

Would God move us to Washington to fall our faces to show me I was better off in Arizona where I had a great job making bank as the kids would say today, but sacrificing my soul and my family for it? Is He teaching me a lesson at my husbands expense? Is this a temporary stopping place in this state to see if I would follow? We can't afford to move again, we are flat broke and our credit is worse than the national deficit.

But, (you knew it was coming). God is talking to me again. This week, I received the following Bible Verse from Air1: 'For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe even if someone told you about it.' It is from Habakkuk 1:5. Prior to that, I received:

'For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?'... Isaiah 43:19. Of course, I didn't give this much thought the day I read it. The next day, this one arrived: 'The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.' Lamentations 3:25. I know that I said to myself as I was reading it.

Hello! Earth er, God to Jean, DO YOU HEAR ME NOW?? Yes, Lord, I hear you! Let me see. If I was working when I had my surgery, it would have been a new job and I would have been fired for being out of work for so long. If they hadn't, they would have had to let me go because I can only work 4 hours a day. My mom has stage 3 cancer and has been blowing through her treatments with amazing grace and strength. I haven't been able to visit her due to my surgery and our budget limitations, however, I believe God has a plan!

Today, I was listening to Marianne Williamson (A Course in Miracles) and she said to repeat: I place my future in the hands of God and when we do, something miraculous happens, we relax and trust. Yes God, I hear you and today, I am home and able to relax and listen to what You are telling me!

How do you hear from God? I would love to hear your stories.