In my early twenties, I was obsessed with trying to understand the ways in which God talks to people. I wanted to know how God spoke to others because I was trying to figure out how to hear God for myself. Over the years, I’ve found that little “discoveries” are part of the way God speaks to me. And these discoveries come through various faith traditions.
I wanted to share two small discoveries that probably won’t mean much to you, but God understood the magnitude of what they would mean to me.
From 2009-2012, I worked for a nonprofit organization that was run by a Jordanian man and his family. One day, while organizing in one of the back rooms, his wife gave me a medium sized piece of parchment paper that had been rolled up. When I opened it, I saw the most beautiful Arabic calligraphy. I asked her about it and she admitted to not knowing what it said but she believed it had come from a museum in Jordan.
I didn’t care what it said, all I knew was that it was beautiful and I was definitely going to keep it.
Since then, I have kept this rolled up piece of parchment paper with me. Through every life change, through every move, through every spiritual season – I’ve always looked at this parchment paper in adoration and imagined all sorts of beautiful things about it.
Back in August, I moved again and I have been slowly unpacking over the past month and a half. This past weekend, I rediscovered this parchment scroll and decided to use Chat GPT to find out what the writing says.
If Chat is right, the calligraphy on the scroll is Ayatul Kursi. I wrote about this verse of the Qur’an just this past summer. It is a statement of God’s absolute oneness, and is considered to be a verse that blesses and protects those who recite it.
Finding out that I had a copy of the Ayatul Kursi all this time made me feel so happy. It felt like God was saying to me, “Just like this scroll you’ve been carrying around with you everywhere you’ve gone, so have I been with you everywhere you’ve gone.”
A few days before that, I hurriedly pulled into a parking spot while dropping my son off at school. I’d had two 12+ hour days and I knew that the day ahead of me wasn’t going to be any more restful. On top of feeling stressed and burned out, I’d left my wallet at home, I was late for work, and I needed gas.
As I slid into my parking spot – I noticed a small Jesus figurine on a lamppost directly in front of my car. Immediately I felt less stressed. I felt that God was telling me I’d be covered, no matter what the day brought.
To me, the essence of my Omnist faith is that it doesn’t matter that God spoke through Islam in one scenario and through Christianity in another. God can meet with me (or you) anywhere you are and through the things that are important to you. I appreciate being open enough to experience God in the various forms that God comes to me.
How does God speak to you?
