Thank you for taking the time to respond, Anne. If I seem to be saying, “Hey look what God did for me . . .” it is because I want people to know “if He can do this for me He can do it for you, too, and abundantly more.” I was warned ahead of time of my father’s death, although I did not recognize what the vision meant until I was standing by his body in the darkened bedroom. Those “premonitions” in visions or in words prepare me for what might otherwise be a horrible or even a fatal shock. I received such a warning before I thrown off the back of a boat beside the propeller and I am sure that “word of warning” kept me calm and upright and motionless in the water while the boat sped away. In the case of my father’s death, I shared a sketch of the vision with our youngest son to show him God was speaking to me even though I did not yet understand all of what He was saying. It was pivotal to his developing “respect” for his parents’ faith.
You, like Samuel, heard God while asleep or near sleep. God also speaks at times of quiet or of pleasant distraction or of praise because the ears are receptive: the tiny muscles in the ears are relaxed in sleep and in those meditative states of consciousness to the point where they are attuned to the Voice within. When Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear,” He seems to be acknowledging that some people simply do not have ears that can hear properly. I used to think that people “who did not have ears to hear” were being stubborn and refusing to pay attention to God, which can happen, of course. But now I know from my experience with deaf, dyslexic, bipolar, depressed, and schizophrenic people that vast numbers of people have the “invisible” type of deafness that prevents them from hearing other people properly and that is likely to prevent them from learning to hear God, too. Music therapy can heal such ears, opening them not only to more rational, healthy relationships with people but to a better chance of hearing God.
Art is a window into the soul and a doorway to Heaven. May your children be blessed in their gifts!
