Listening and Trusting
On the evening of January 29th, 2024, I was driving home from Boston when I felt the urge to stop and get some dinner. I didn’t really want to take the time to stop, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to stop. Despite my exhaustion and determination to continue onward, I succumbed to my feelings and left the highway to get a quick bite to eat. That stop saved my life!
As I was getting into my car with my sandwich, I experienced and arrhythmia that caused my heart to stop beating for twenty seconds before being shocked back into rhythm by the cardiac device in my chest. Modern medicine is amazing! What’s even more amazing, though, is how God works in our lives. At the moment when my heart stopped, I was sittingin my car … not driving … not walking in the parking lot … sitting! I knew that God was with me. I could have been badly hurt or even killed. I could have killed others too, but I was sitting in my car!
Sometimes we get feelings or urgings, and in the moment, we don’t realize that they are coming from God. Unfortunately, all too often, we ignore these signals, but we all need to acknowledge that God speaks to us through our gut. St. Bridget of Sweeden once said, “God talks to us all the time, but most people don’t know how to listen.” Thankfully, in that moment last January, I did listen. Since then, I have been working hard at listening better.
Listening is only part of it, though. In order to act on the listening, we have to trust. In that moment on the highway, I did not think it was in my best interest to take the time to stop. That’s the thing, we don’t always know what’s in our best interest, because we don’t have all the information. That’s why we have to trust. The more we trust, the better off we become.
Even so, listening and trusting doesn’t just happen. We have to work hard at it. It takes time, patience and persistence. I’m convinced that this is why Christina prayed, “Jesus, I trust in You” so often. The more we practice listening and trusting In God – the more we work at it – the better we can do it and the better our lives will be.
Deb Egan grew up in a Catholic family. Throughout her adult life, she has participated as a church volunteer in many capacities, including teaching Religious Education, being a Eucharistic Minister and Lector, Ministering to the elderly and homebound, and Facilitating Small Faith Groups. She has been trained by Evangelical Catholic and became a member of the Build the Faith Team in April of 2017.
