Talking to God

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. Psalm 145:18
 
    Communication is important for a healthy relationship, including our relationship with God. For most of us, it is easier to talk to our close friends or a close relative than it is someone we just met or hardly know. Therefore, the more time we spend with God in prayer, learning His Word, and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, the better we get to know Him and the better our communication with Him becomes.
 
    Even then, it can be a struggle.
 
    Have you ever known people who can talk to anyone or NO-ONE? I’m not one of those people! I have a difficult time talking to someone who I don’t hear an audible response from. Like my autistic son when he was a baby. He didn’t talk until he was over three years old and he wouldn’t respond when talked to. Therefore, there was little to no communication on his part. I had to consciously remind myself that I needed to talk to him or he wouldn’t ever learn to talk. I’m not good at talking to animals either because they don’t carry on a conversation like humans do. (Although, my cat meows when I talk to him. But I haven’t learned ‘cat language’ yet. I’m still working on that.)
 
    One reason for my ‘quietness’ could be that in my past, I felt that what I had to say was never good nor right. Therefore, my attitude was – “If I don’t talk then I can’t say anything wrong”.
 
    I also used to think that talking to God didn’t matter because He knows everything already. Doesn’t He know my heart and my mind? Then why do I need to tell Him? The answer to this question made sense to me after I had kids. Even though I knew what my kids were up to, what they did good or bad, the fun they had, the disasters they had, I still wanted to hear it from them.
 
    God wants to hear from us even though He already knows all things. There is no right or wrong thing to say to Him, He just wants us to talk to Him like a ‘best friend’ or ‘one of His children’. After all, isn’t that what we are? Or should be?
 
~Joanie Lawrence-Cain