Imagine if your child asks you, "Mommy, you say God is real, when is the last time you heard from God?" I remember in the lowest point of my spiritual walk, I was very afraid that my kids may one day ask me that and all I had to offer was the encounter with God decades ago. No, I don't want that to happen. And so, I started learning how to discern the whisper from God and to follow His prompting. I long for a day-to-day walk with God.

Pastor Bill Hybels said, "Discerning God's direction is somewhat subjective, but it's not arbitrary." Bill lays out some principles along with his personal experience in this book. His experience in how God detoured him "only 15 minutes before he gave a talk" is amazing. I have posted in the images above. Take a look at it. This is how powerful a gentle divine whisper can be, if we take heart to follow it.

Below is the excerpt of how Pastor Bill followed the whisper when he started the Willow Creek church:

"Within a few months, we said goodbye to those thousand students and began looking for a place to launch a church. we walked into our future having no secure job, no support from any organization and no idea if our new plan would strike a responsive chord with anyone. What we did have was the confidence that stems from receiving a clear whisper from God. We had placed our trembling hands in his strong ones and were confident that it was his lead we were following. It was not lost on me that the entire series of events could be traced back to a few days of solitude, when I was quiet enough to hear God’s voice."

I still remember the scene when I finished reading the book. I was on a flight back to San Jose. When I closed the book, I thought, "What if we respond to all the little prompting from God and actually act upon it as He guides us. How much more can we become?" I started asking God, what is my best, my natural gift and how can I use that more effectively . . . and I wonder what it would be like when we walk on that path consistently and persistently . . .