My faith in You is what compels me to walk in Your way. It has quieted me in order to follow Your commands, given by Your perfect communication. With such peace I am therefore open and enabled to DO whatever You put me to doing. You offer a wide variety of interactions to sharpen my spirit. It may require stepping back, holding my words tight, and to simply pay attention. Thus allowing the situation to do the talking.
At my workstation I see and interact with people from all walks of life, every nation and language. People who are celebrating, traveling on business…and also those who are bereaved, suffering the loss of a loved one. To hear the languages spoken by each one is a delight, the timbre colors every word with unique global embellishments. Into this vast banquet of worldwide communication there came a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a woman.
That is what I ‘saw‘.
In our short conversation the woman explained that she was his caretaker and assistant.
He said nothing, just looked straight ahead. It was then I learned that this man was both blind and deaf. She explained to me that they communicated in a ‘special way‘.
I watched her ‘talk‘ with him using hand-to-hand touch gestures, a language of their own.
She placed her fingers into the palms of his hand and ‘spoke‘ by finger gestures. Their hands became as one, intertwined in deep conversation. He nodded and then placed his fingers into her hand and ‘spoke’ that he ‘heard‘ and understood.
The language between them truly melted me.
LORD, not only was this a testimony to our ability to live and thrive without two primary sensory tools, those of sight and sound, but also a witness to a ‘special way’ of communication.
How does God speak to you?
Is His voice loud? Does He stir quietly, drawing you in to listen? Like PSST…I have something for you.
Are dreams and visions the main artery through which His ‘special’ language is pumped? Is the chat with Him done from a face on the floor call center (prayer)? Maybe you get it injected – straight from the Word as each line of scripture unfurls truth and direction.
Is it difficult to discern between His voice and the flood of everything else going on around you? Do you have to pull back from the noise and speed of life to hear Him? Or does the holy spirit talk to you via another person; a pastor, author, or podcast?
Every person hears differently, yet what we, as His own want… is MORE communication. Talk to me LORD. Without that conversation we are missing the message. To HEAR God speak requires us to get alone, out of our own heads, to let go the things which hang us up. It takes determination. Trust me, I know this after years of learning how to discern what is my internal voice jabbering away versus what is His unmistakably soft – but loud WORD. It gets in under the skin, ripping back the doubt to reveal the real. The holy spirit talks in a language not too different from the ‘special way’; in that we cannot SEE or HEAR without the intimate touch between our spirit and His.
You, God, communicate not with media or billboards, but intertwined like fingers within our very spirit; a direct and powerful, barrier-free channel.
Thank you, Father, for the blessing we have in communicating through a sense that is greater than all others. To be the recipient of such a ‘special way‘ of communication only strengthens my faith.
And I am sure it does the same for you.
Protactile is a language used by deafblind people using tactile channels. Unlike other sign languages, which are heavily reliant on visual information, protactile is oriented towards touch and is practiced on the body. Visit https://www.ndcs.org.uk/ to learn more.
