Messages From the Spirit

Listen to the silence

Listen to it whisper and moan

Listen, it just might tell us what’s goin’ on

Where to go from here

~ Listen to the Silence by Juliet A. Wright

copyright 1991, all rights reserved

This story outlines two experiences I had in which Spirit spoke to me through various people and sources. I actually gave an account of the first experience in my first book, but I like the story so much that I am telling it here again. The second powerful experience occurred halfway through 2014.

Every once in a while, Spirit (i.e. Holy Spirit, God) sends me a powerful message. I can usually tell when this happens because I will get the same message from two completely unrelated sources. It used to freak me out a little bit but now it just energizes me.

The first time this happened was when a friend of mine first suggested the idea to me that I move from Los Angeles back to my native Vermont. At first I couldn’t imagine the idea. What, me leave my precious Los Angeles? Then we talked about it. What is so precious, the traffic? The two and a half-hour public transportation commute? The people who hassle you after hours on the commuter train? Your ever-rising living expenses? Your stress level at your job? Who couldn’t live without all of that?

I quickly realized that my friend was right. I was on anti-depressants and sleeping meds. I was completely stressed out by my commute and my job, which, in the wonderful world of the Los Angeles Unified School District, was ever in flux. I had just broken up with a guy who had been making me miserable. All I did was complain to her about my job, commute, and basically everything that had to do with the City of Angels.

I was worried though. I was still trying to make a go of it with my music, and I felt that I needed to be in Los Angeles to do this.

“Juliet, there’s this thing now called the Internet. You can live wherever you want. You can have that cabin in the woods like you always wanted.”

I started to smile on the outside and on the inside. Was there any place to play music in Vermont though? What was their music scene like? Is this something God wants for me or am I jumping the gun? Am I giving up on LA too soon? What if I make the wrong decision? Sigh.

So I told my friend that I would pray about it. I did, all the way home from seeing her.

I stopped to get the mail on the way home. In my mailbox, there was a copy of Vermont Life with a cover story titled “Discover Vermont Music.” I got chills down my spine. Okay God, I’m listening. Now here I am today, living in my beautiful Vermont cabin like I always wanted.

Just this past week was the second time I received a message from Spirit through two unrelated sources. I’ve been listening to and studying the audio version of the book, Forgotten God, by Frances Chan. In it, he talks about the Holy Spirit and how we need to bring it back into our lives and religious institutions.

I’ve been praying a lot to the Holy Spirit, asking it to direct everything in my

life — from decisions to conversations, to doing my teaching for me, living my life, helping me stop obsessing, saving my brother-in-law, etc.

Well, ask and ye shall receive. A few weeks ago, I was on the edge of despair over my brother-in-law’s illness (he passed away on May 9, 2014) and my sister’s burdens with it. I was grieving and sad for their situation to the point of codependency. I was feeling horrible for a week at a time. So my friend called me on it. She said I go beyond sadness and grief into codependency by feeling their feelings. She also said that I need to learn to look at the positive side of everything. I can learn to see the positive in every situation if I only ask for God’s help and practice. At least he’s getting treatment, she said. How great for him to be living in the Bay area where the medicine is some of the best in the nation, instead of in the jungles of Africa. She said I needed to learn to apply this positive thinking to every area of my life.

“Okay… so I’ll practice that,” I said to myself. And I’ve been working on it.

This same week, I began listening to my copy of the audiobook, The Me I Want to Be, by John Ortberg. John is a minister and author, and he has put out many other awesome books, including Faith and Doubt.

Mr. Ortberg has a fantastic voice and I recommend getting his books on audio, partly for the sake of just hearing him speak. You’ll discover a very cool voice with a great rhythm of speech. He definitely keeps your interest.

He stated that we have the power to change the way we think. We can approach life from a more positive point of view, if we commit to changing our habit of negative thinking. We have to practice replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts. We can do this in all areas of our life and God is there to help. All we have to do is ask. Scripture is there to help too.^[1] For example, consider this:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.

~ Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

God wants to help. God wants us to be the best we can be.

I felt chills run down my spine while listening to Mr. Ortberg’s words on changing our thinking. These were the same chills that I had felt when I found the Vermont Life magazine in my mailbox. I was getting the same message from two different sources. God was talking to me. Okay God. I’m listening.

^[1] Ortberg, John. The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You (Audio). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.