I am often asked about prayer and how we know that God is speaking to us. It’s always funny to me how little we trust those moments when we hear God’s voice or see a sign that He sends.
We do well to cautiously see if something that seems to be from God truly is from God. After all, we could be convincing ourselves and letting the blowing wind decide where we go.
If prayer is truly as St. Theresa says – friendship with God – then it would make sense to think of these things in terms of friendship. When we are becoming friends, we share experiences, we are interested in discovering things about the other person, and we all want what is best for each other. But it takes a while to figure all that out. It takes a while to understand the tone of a text or the meaning behind a phrase and facial expression. It takes a while, but at some point, you know your friend well enough that you can tell something is wrong when they walk into the room. You can tell they are thrilled with something by the first word they speak.
All of these things come from our paying attention. We see, we listen, we remember. It is the same with God. We come, we pray, we ask, we thank, we listen. We remember, and we do it again. We test, and we believe.
We can do it.
Amazing Graces 