Walks ‘n Talks with Dad

Walks ‘n Talks with Dad

One of my earliest memories is feeling my tiny hand curled in My Heavenly Father’s big one, ambling down a grimy Toronto street, talking about stuff.   Our conversations back then consisted mostly of Him telling me He loved me and that everything was going to be ok or explaining what I should do,  or not do in order to avoid getting hurt—on the streets or at home.  But that’s a story for another day.

My conversations with Dad have continued for most of my life.  When I was thirteen, on a tiny island in Georgian Bay, Ontario, He told me He was “calling me to the Mission Field in China”, but did not follow up on His promise for twenty-plus years.  In the meantime, I philosophized that He had reneged, that I had missed His call or—most probably, that I had simply “invented” those conversations as a survival mechanism.

Soon after our dialogue on the island, during which I literally fell on my face before a Holy God, I left home, lived on the streets, drank and drugged, married an addict and had an abortion.  During those “lost years” there were no conversations with Dad. I reasoned that I had committed all the unpardonable sins so it was no wonder He stopped talking to me.  Of course, it was me who stopped talking to Him.

Then one night in my early-twenties, I was stoned, lying in a gutter, muddy water running down over my body, and He came to me–His familiar baritone voice was unmistakable!   It cracked with grief as He looked down upon the sad state of his daughter.  “Oh Gloria, what are you doing here?  This is not what I created you for…” He was weeping and His voice trailed off.

I immediately pulled myself out of that gutter, fully sober and fully ready to find my way back to Him.  I literally ran to the altar the following Sunday and rededicated my life to Him.  I started trying to talk to Him again.  But those easy, friendly conversations we’d once enjoyed when I was a child were gone.  After several months, I decided that I was now a grown adult.  I needed to start acting like one and by that I meant setting aside a few minutes each day to give Him my list of requests and leave it at that.

In 1995, I was serving as National Director of Choose Life Canada and an International Pro-Family Leader called me one day.  He opened the conversation by asking how I would like to go to China.  I laughed.  “Not really one of my top travel destinations” I told him.  “Well I have a mission for you.” he replied.  Suddenly, the words Dad had spoken twenty three years earlier came back to me. I started dancing around the kitchen, leaving my associate wondering if I’d lost my marbles. I had! Dad had not reneged on His call on my life after all! The following month, I flew to Beijing, China on a mission trip to the United Nations 4^th World Conference on Women–another story for another day.

During those years, I longed to have a deep, intimate connection with my Heavenly Father and in 2005, I came across Brad Jersak’s book, “Can you hear me?” I was not surprised to learn that “I had been created to walk and talk with the Almighty”. I began crying out to God and in the years that followed, He told me many, “great and mighty things, which I did not know”. (Jeremiah 33:3) The English language falls short in describing what it is like to have regular one-on-ones with the Creator of the Universe.  When deep calls to deep, it can be both exhilarating and unsettling, joyous and sobering, affirming and draining.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

Around 2018, Dad asked me to start video-taping our conversations as I walked along beaches, down rivers, through swamps and up mountains.  He instructed me to call them, “Walks ‘n Talks with Dad”, but I had no means of releasing them.  Let’s be honest–I can barely figure out how to upload them from my phone to my computer.

Now He’s asking me to make some of our Walk ‘n Talks public.  He followed up on that request by sending a technical wizard my way who has removed many of the barriers! That shouldn’t have been a surprise because He told me He would send this person in a recorded 2019 Walk ‘n Talk. It’s just that I was beginning to wonder if I had misheard Him. I should know by now, that His time is not my time.

I have to admit that I’m terrified by the prospect of a public vlog.  What if I mishear him?  What if I’m wrong? What if others are led astray with my, “Thus saith the Lord”? What if enemies use it against me?  I know what it feels like to have your life and your children’s lives threatened-another story for another day.  Plus much of what I hear Dad say is controversial, sometimes even confrontational.  Or is that me?  My disclaimer is that from time to time, you will hear my commentary on a certain subject and believe me,  that will be annoying.  So dear one, think twice before you push subscribe.

Conclusion

Last week, Dad gave me the foundational Scripture for Walk ‘n Talks: Ephesians 4:15.

“Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

There are no coincidences when you serve The Almighty and I am currently watching The House of David. I’m particularly drawn to the character of Samuel.  He is compelling, because he speaks the strong word of the Lord in Love.  My prayer is that you will extend grace to me as I set my heart on the same.