Listening and Responding

I expect that in the next life, I will learn that my prayer life could have been infinitely richer if I had only listened better. To truly converse with God, we must listen for His voice, not just ask for His help. As important as it is to bring my needs to God, to praise Him, to worship Him, and to talk with Him, it is only a one way street unless I listen. Imagine how our friends and family and others would react if we hit them with a non-stop blizzard of words and never stopped long enough to hear what they have to say. Or imagine how they would react if we talked until we were done and then we stopped talking and walked away. That is how we frequently treat God.

Today, I learned a beautiful example of why we need to listen from my nearly 12 year-old daughter. She and my wife were returning from an out of town trip during the late evening yesterday. As they hurtled down the highway at 75 miles per hour with another car next to them and a semi on their tail, they crested a hill and saw a deer standing in the middle of their lane. My wife swerved only slightly because she had a car next to her. She couldn't slam on her brakes because of the semi close behind. They missed the deer, although they say they don't know how it was possible.

Now for the remarkable part - my daughter told my wife that before they almost hit the deer, she had an overwhelming sense that she needed to pray for their safety. As they crested the hill, not knowing what was ahead of them, my daughter was praying for their safety. My wife and daughter still don't know how it was physically possible to miss the deer. What is so amazing though, is that my young daughter heard God's voice, she listened to it and she responded with prayer. How often are we so busy talking, thinking or obsessing that we don't hear that still, quiet voice of our Lord? How much do we miss because we simply do not listen? My daughter says she knows God was with them last night.