{"id":34551,"date":"2025-09-18T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=34551"},"modified":"2025-09-18T11:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T18:13:28","slug":"can-hear-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/can-hear-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Can We Hear God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever experienced a sudden conviction, a determination, that there is something you <\/span>must<\/span><\/i> do\u2014that it isn\u2019t even a choice? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever think that maybe this was God speaking to you? You didn\u2019t <\/span>hear<\/span><\/i> a voice\u2014you <\/span>felt<\/span><\/i> that voice. You just knew. No doubt. Conviction. It happened to me once, many years ago, so I was intrigued and impressed when I read an <\/span>Arizona Republic<\/span><\/i> article by Dianna M. N\u00e1\u00f1ez about Sedona resident Joan Shannon, who managed to bring a family of refugees from Kosovo to Arizona.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Ethnic
Refugees fleeing Kosovo in March 1999<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Did Shannon know them already? No. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did she know of them? No.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She simply saw a glimpse of them on a news clip and her heart (I believe it was God speaking to her) told her to help them. It wasn\u2019t a suggestion, “Gee, Joan, you might consider helping this family.” It was more of a statement or an unspoken commandment: “Hey, Joan, this family needs help. Give it to them.”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

N\u00e1\u00f1ez<\/span> writes: “The news clip was short. In a few seconds Joan had focused on something she couldn\u2019t shake. One man. He was carrying a child and walking with an older woman. Joan stood for a minute thinking, then she called to her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019I saw this man carrying a boy, and I think I\u2019m going to help them,\u2019 she said.”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband was understandably incredulous.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon told N\u00e1\u00f1ez he asked, “How are you going to do that? You don\u2019t know who they are, you don\u2019t know where they are.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She simply replied, “Yeah, I know, I just got this feeling,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI got this feeling that this is what I ought to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This recalled to me the trip I made in 1993. Just 1 1\/2 years after the fall of communism, I heard someone speak of the needs of the fledgling Baha\u2019i<\/a> community in Romania. I went home and told my husband, “I have to go to Romania.” It wasn\u2019t a choice\u2014I felt absolutely compelled. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d heard pleas for assistance before, from other areas of the world. I\u2019d thought, “It would be nice to go, but …” There was always a “but …” Yet this time, even though I had no family there, no history to call me to that country, and didn\u2019t know the language, I just knew God was telling me to go. So I did. My husband seemed to understand what had happened, and he graciously opted to join me. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To tell the truth, the Romanians gave me much more than anything I could possibly do for them. Their intelligence and spiritual depth, their ability to do so much with so little, their trust and patience, have had a lasting impact on how I view the world around me and how I relate to others.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I understand Joan Shannon and her actions, which, if one doesn\u2019t believe in divine intervention, seem nothing short of amazing. Her tenacity was more than admirable. She struggled to find them. She had no names. She called many government agencies but felt ignored by them. Finally, Frank Hyland of the video department at CNN agreed to review footage of Kosovo refugees. N\u00e1\u00f1ez quotes a previous Arizona Republic article in which Hyland said, “\u2019It was definitely a needle in a haystack. Frankly, I didn\u2019t think she\u2019d find them. They\u2019re in the middle of nowhere. She\u2019s in Arizona.\u2019”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer advised that, “He\u2019d almost given up when he spotted the man and his family.”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was just one step. Learning his name, Lulzim Dulaku , and finding out where he was, took time. Shannon never gave up until the Dulaku family was found.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyland surmised, “I think that family had a guardian angel looking out for them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t always recognize God\u2019s hand in our lives. But if we read and meditate on God\u2019s word, and if we pray to recognize and then be willing to follow God\u2019s will, we open ourselves us to divine guidance. The Baha\u2019i<\/a> teachings point that out:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

… the world of humanity is in need of the confirmations of the Holy Spirit. True distinction among mankind is through divine bestowals and receiving the intuitions of the Holy Spirit. \u2013 Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, The Promulgation of Universal Peace<\/em>, p. 316.<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It seems that Joan Shannon and also Lulzim Dulaku and his family received exactly that kind of intuition and confirmation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can all open ourselves to such blessings, to receive the grace of God, and to recognize when God speaks to us\u2014by praying sincerely, studying the Holy Scriptures, and heeding the instructions of God: <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

To the orphans be ye kind fathers, and to the unfortunate a refuge and shelter. To the poor be a treasure of wealth, and to the sick a remedy and healing. Be a helper of every \u00a0oppressed one, the protector of every destitute one, be ye ever mindful to serve any soul of mankind. – Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, Star of the West<\/em>, Volume 6, p. 134.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever experienced a sudden conviction, a determination, that there is something you must do\u2014that it isn\u2019t even a choice? Did you ever think that maybe this was God…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":73698,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2970],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34551"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34551"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88142,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34551\/revisions\/88142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34551"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=34551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}