I Hear His Voice - SOLD

I have a wonderful friend, Paula D'Arcy who is a writer, conference leader and counselor.  I met Paula over 30 years ago at a week long event with Norman Vincent Peale.  He was known as the father of positive thinking.  His best selling book is entitled, The Power of Positive Thinking.   Paula was a speaker at that conference and told the story of losing her husband and young daughter in a car accident while she was pregnant with her second child.  Her story was one of a painful journey back to a faith in a God who she was not sure of and was not even sure she wanted to know.  Her story can be found in the book, A Song for Sarah.  Her story was so compelling to me.  I waited in line for about an hour to speak to her.  The conference was being held in New York and I told her I was from Alabama and I led a women's group there. I asked if she would consider coming to Alabama to speak to a small conference if I organized it.  She said, "Well, I have been all over the world and never to Alabama.  I will come."  That conference was the beginning of 10 years of women's retreats with Paula as the main speaker.  Sometimes I would make it a weekend complete with massage therapy, artists, books and even a potter.  I still hear from women who remember those retreats and especially Paula's speaking.  I have not seen Paula in over 15 years and last Fall I attended a silent retreat where she was the leader and we spent the first hour talking non stop (before the silence started).  **Just a disclaimer here for those who know me personally....that will be my last silent retreat.  I know they are wonderful and hold so much introspective time for many but it was very hard for me to be quiet for 3 days.**

I remember a story Paula told me once that has stayed with me.  She was talking about the way God speaks to us and she told me about visiting a sheep farm.  She said she met the shepherd of the flock and learned that he had a large amount of sheep to watch over and take from field to field and he told her that all he had to do was call them and they would all come to him because they knew him.  They knew he was their shepherd.  She said that one morning she was walking early and no one else was around.  She decided to walk up to the fence where the sheep were and she called out "Sheep!"  just like she had previously seen the shepherd do.  Not even an ear twitch from one of those sheep.  She proceeded to try and make her voice deeper and used several different inflections.....no response.  She left feeling a little embarrassed.  She later went back with the shepherd and watched as he called, "Sheep!"  and when they heard his voice they all came to the gate to be let out.  The sheep knew the voice of the shepherd.  They spent time with him, when he called they recognized him immediately.

I think there is a sermon there.