Pennies from Heaven

Has God ever spoken to you without words or a voice? Has something ever happened and you were just certain God was giving you an ounce of encouragement or a signal that your thoughts were on track? It happens to me every now and again. I have never heard the audible voice of God. Oh yes, I hope that would happen one day but until it does I laud the private whispers that are a spring of discernment to my soul. I exercise caution in looking for signs but find that usually when God is communicating to me it is quiet, and for me alone. No one else may have picked up on His whisper and if I tell them my story they often miss the energy of the Holy Spirit that helped me to recognize God’s message. It’s like a secret language or a look between friends. God knows me so well that His Spirit sparks me awake to tune into His gift for me. He gets my attention differently every time and yet the qualities are kindred in nature. I’m thankful and praise God that He would ever bother to communicate with me! Oh, how I hope that you have also learned to discern the voice of your creator. I feel like my heart gets a hot flash on a cold day. It is irresistibly warm and comforting.

Yesterday was a busy day out of town and returned home about 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at my bible study group. I almost called and told the hostess that I wasn’t going to make it. The rest of my week is really busy as well and I was trying to figure out how I would get everything done without going coo-coo. I decided I shouldn’t miss it and unloaded my bags and headed back into town.

It was a beautiful summer evening and the 5 of us gathered our chairs in a semi-circle to keep the sinking sun from shining right in our eyes. It had been a very warm day but the movement of the breeze was lovely. It was a nice reminder that God’s word says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). We shared our prayer requests and praise reports, we prayed for each other, read our weekly scriptures aloud and then discussed. The blessings abound when you surround yourself with others who are also walking with God and leaning-in to discern His movement in the world. That evening on the lawn sharing of testimonies and experiences became an advanced classroom for me (most likely for each of us).

At the end of the evening, I was walking away from my friends and toward my car and was pondering some of the things we discussed and trying to reconcile in my mind how I could take the things I had learned and imbibe them into myself. I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have difficulty changing old habits and taking the new and making it become a fresh and renewed part of me. That particular evening there were a few things that ringed like a bell to my conscience. Ding-ding! Heidi, pay attention. One of the ladies just joined the group and was giving her story to another in the group who was a new acquaintance. Her love and excitement for the Lord was like a light with the dimmer switch being turned up as she spoke. There was love and truth in her words and it was missing the legalism that often rears its head. I have realized that the more knowledge of scripture I gain the more legalism emerges. I need to fight back against this over-expression of judgment that comes from the good desire for obedience. She was showing me a picture of how this should look. There was another sparkle of wisdom that God was offering me in the conversation that evening that is kind of personal and probably a little boring so I’ll spare you the details.

I hopped in the car and headed home. Not out of the norm, I had the 40’s radio station playing. The music of the 40’s takes me to a time of innocence and purity that I long for in our world, it’s light-hearted and clean. I turned right on a country lane and reached over to turn the voice of Bing Crosby down so I could pray out loud about the “ding-dings” my heart heard tonight. My finger-tips hit the knob and I stopped because my heart didn’t hear Bing anymore, but God singing: “Every time it rains it rains Pennies from heaven, don’t you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven”*! I didn’t turn it down. I turned it up and God finished with, “If you want things you love you must have showers, so when you hear the thunder, don’t run under a tree, there’ll be pennies from heaven for you and me.” This was the whisper. My soul ignited as though God actually said “Yes Heidi, the things that are on your heart are from me, I send pennies from heaven for you and you are blessed because of them. Be thankful you didn’t miss them tonight.”

My friends, I encourage you to keep your heart and mind active when you feel your spirit discerning wisdom. Don’t shut the door on the Holy Spirit. Listen for the whisper. My one caution, if you think you hear it, take the things you hear back to the scriptures to see if what you heard is true. God will never lie to you so the truth will always be His message and if it doesn’t line up with His true word then pay no attention to the thoughts. The enemies voice is usually louder so be careful but keep watch for “Pennies from heaven for You and me!”*

Hopscotch Heidi

*"Pennies from Heaven" was written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston for a 1936 movie by the same name.