My Journey with God

His Voice

Nov. 29, 2017
My first real encounter with God began I believe 9-10 years ago at a summer camp that I don't quite remember the name of but it was the first place where I heard God's voice with my own two ears. My camp group and I were led to a small maze made out of sticks and stones. Our assignment was to each find a stone and "pray" on in as we walked through the maze and place the stone in a pile in the center of the maze. If I remember correctly, the counselors said that the prayers we say into the stone holds them until we reach the end of the maze and placing the stones in the pile acted like a stream of prayers to heaven. So I grabbed the closest stone I could find and immediately began to pray. When I was halfway to the center of the maze, I began to hear someone with a deep yet soft voice speaking to me. I looked up from my stone and looked to see who was talking but everyone was praying quietly to their stone. At first I thought I was hearing things, maybe I was tired or hungry but I just kept walking through the maze and praying on my stone. Then I said quietly to myself, or at least I thought it was to myself, " God? Are you there?" I made sure I asked super quietly so no one else heard, but someone did. " Yes." It was the deep voice again, I looked up again but everyone was still looking down. "Hello Avery", I thought to myself, is that God's voice? "Yes Avery, it is me," he heard what I was thinking, this can't be real. "I can hear your thoughts and prayers Avery, and I am here to listen." It was really him , God's voice speaking to me. I felt so happy to hear his voice and hearing it made me feel safe. We talked quietly the rest of the way through the maze until I came to the pile of stones. I said my amen and placed my stone at the bottom of the pile, and started to head back to my group. God and I talked some more until I made it out of the maze. As me and my group were about to head for lunch, I heard God say something that I will never forget, "I love you Avery."