God Whispers: Nudges, Fudges, and Butterfly Moments
Introduction
God desires and is pleased to communicate with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills, and our emotions. The continuous
and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the souls of the redeemed men and women is
the throbbing heart of the New Testament
—A. W. Tozer
Where are you at this moment? If your first reaction was to say,
“I am in a book store,” or “I am in my recliner”, I would likely say the same thing. But what I am asking is where you are in your faith walk with God. Do you feel far from Him? Maybe you walk closely with Him and hear His voice in your life. Are you in a listening mode or are you tuned into the “noise” in your life, cluttered with things to do, places to go, and people to see?
Maybe you picked up this book because you were curious how God could possibly whisper. Or maybe you needed to make a major decision and you thought this book might help. Or maybe you picked it up because when you saw “fudge” in the subtitle, you thought it might be a recipe book. It is a recipe book, in its own way, and for fun, you will fi nd fudge recipes in the appendix. But I wrote this book to share some experiences of mine, and those of its contributors, about how we learned from our fudges and responded to God’s nudges. God wants to free us from our self-made cocoons, or chrysalises, and watch us fly free like a butterfly.
The Webster Dictionary defi nition may help you catch my meaning. Nudge: “…to touch or push gently; to seek the attention of by a push of the elbow; to prod lightly: urge into action.” Can you see how God would use nudges to get our attention in this defi nition?
Most people understand fudge as a candy, but there is a deeper meaning to the word. Fudge means both chocolate cadny and “To devise as a substitute; to fail to come to grips with; to exceed the proper bounds or limits of; to fail to perform as expected: to avoid commitment.
Example: The treasurer fudged the figures.”
When I to fail to have no time to shop for what I need, I fudge my way through hoping for the best. When God nudges us, we might ignore Him or think we heard wrong. We may do nothing or only part of what He asks and regret it later. This is my definition of fudging in this book.
Butterfly Moments is my favorite part of the title. It means we are freed, liberated by God to live the life He has planned for us. We shed the old wrappings of our life, see more clearly, love more dearly, and follow Jesus more nearly than before. Sound familiar? Those are the key words of the song “Day by Day” from the musical Godspell.
We begin to grow from baby Christians, where we all begin, to mature Christians who have an unquenchable desire to know and unerstand more.
In this book, you will read stories of people who responded to God’s nudges, some who also fudged their response, and butterfly moments when we feel free. My hope is you will be able to relate, be encouraged, and remember your own experiences, and the next time you think God is nudging you, you will recognize it and act accordingly.
Forgiveness is abundant from God. “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you” (Acts 13:38).
I’ll begin with the last part of the subtitle because that’s the Good News! Sharing good news at the beginning of a conversation is wise, in “my book” and will allow you to move on to wherever God leads you.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who
loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and
good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every
good deed and word.
-2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Day by Day 