I've heard a number of people talk about hearing God call for them, hearing His voice or feeling His spirit fill them. For some, they talk about hearing the heavenly choirs and feeling as though a shaft of light from heaven has enveloped them. I have had no such earth-shattering experience, and as such I tend to distrust those who say that they've had them, more out of envy than doubt. In truth, sometimes my envy gets the better of me as I sometimes find myself doubting everything.
And then I hear the whisper. It's not an earthquake, not a lightning strike, not a powerful wind, but the growing warmth of contentment that fills my body with peace. It is so quiet that I sometimes wonder if I am deluding myself. But every once and a while something happens that puts those doubts aside.
Take today for example. I feel pretty miserable from cold (or cold-like) symptoms that have been growing since yesterday. The right side of my face from my nose to my cheekbone and ear to the top of my eye feel congested and almost bruised. I was signed up to be the cantor for today's mass and was concerned that my nose would be running while I was up there and that I would sound stuffed up, but I forgot to take decongestant before I left for church.
I prayed that the Holy Spirit would provide my breath, that I would only be the instrument for God's music. And that's what happened. My lungs and voice cleared for the songs that I needed to sing. I was told that they sounded great.
It's not the first time that this has happened. When I try to force an experience, from something that I'm singing or writing to even conversations, they don't turn out as well when I open myself for the Holy Spirit's voice. I can't force myself to open up either. There isn't a switch. It is those times that I lose my selfish ambitions and desires, when I allow myself to be filled with love and joy, that I have these experiences.
The Holy Spirit didn't come down just that one time two thousand years ago. God's presence surrounds us all of the time, just waiting for us to let the Holy Spirit in.