Listen for His Whisper

By Paula Williamson guest writer

THE WALLS IN OUR LIVES

The Call That Changed Everything

One gray, drizzling afternoon just before dusk, I was visiting my parents when the phone rang. It was the hospital. My youngest sister had been in a serious car accident, and we needed to come immediately.They didn’t expect her to live.

The drive there felt like I was drifting through a dream—slow-motion, heavy, and eerily quiet. Memories of our childhood played in my mind like a film, and a single, haunting question rose in me: “Have I ever told her I love her?”

We had fought constantly growing up. Love was assumed but never spoken, never demonstrated. And suddenly those three little words became more important than anything in the world. Right there in the car, I whispered a simple prayer: “Lord… please let me tell her I love her.”

When we reached the hospital, I was not prepared for what I saw. Blood on the linens. Blood on her clothes. Machines humming. My sister lying there in a coma. The nurse said she could hear us. She needed to know we were there. She needed to hear love. She needed touch—something none of us had ever been good at.

We all stood frozen, like statues—my parents, and me. No one moved. No one spoke. We just stared, paralyzed by shock, fear, and years of emotional distance. Finally, a force stronger than my fear pushed through me. Almost as if God nudged me forward, I reached for her hand—something I had never done in affection—and the words burst out: “We love you. We’re here.”

I don’t remember much after that moment. Only that God used that day to begin changing me. I made a promise to myself and to the Lord that I would never again leave the people I love wondering how I feel about them. Even though it was awkward—and even though I grew up in a family that did not show affection—it began to grow, little by little, as I asked God for the courage to love out loud.

Corrie ten Boom once said that our lives look like tangled knots from our side, but from God’s side, a beautiful tapestry is forming. That day wove a golden thread into mine.

Not long after the accident, God taught me something again—but this time through two tree, one as frozen as we stood that day in the hospital room and the other free, and unrestrained.

I was stopped at a red light on a crisp Autumn morning, staring at a glowing Arizona Ash that had turned the most magnificent sunflower gold. As the wind brushed its branches, the whole tree shimmered and danced like it was alive with joy. But then my eyes drifted to the right. Another tree stood just a few feet away. Same type. Same day. Same season. But three walls enclosed it. Its leaves were dull, barely changing color. Only the topmost tips could catch the breeze. The rest of the tree stood stiff, untouched, unmoved—cut off from the wind. And in that instant, God whispered to my heart: “This is you.”

I was a cautious, guarded person—more comfortable with logic and predictability than vulnerability and risk. I had built walls around my heart to protect myself from people who hurt me or might hurt me.But God gently showed me: “The walls you built to protect yourself are now limiting Me.” Behind walls, nothing gets in, but nothing truly gets out either. Just like that walled-in tree, I wasn’t reflecting the beauty, movement, and freedom God wanted for my life. I could survive there… but I couldn’t shine there.

My memories rushed back to the hospital room—all of us standing like stone soldiers, paralyzed—but how God helped me step out from behind those walls long enough to reach for my sister’s hand. Yes, it was outside the normal, the comfortable. .Yes, it was unfamiliar. But it was also the first time I felt the wind of His Spirit moving freely through me. I realized then: Living wall-free is risky—but it’s worth it.

I wish you could have seen the contrast of those two trees that day—one ablaze with glory, dancing with the wind… the other standing stiff and sheltered, only its “very top tips” moving. Both were trees. Both were planted. Both were loved and created by God. But only one was free. Which one feels like your life right now?

As I sat with this lesson, the Lord gave me a poem to help me remember:

Walls

We began to build the walls in our lives

When we were very small—Words that hurt us, people that left us,

Things we didn’t understand at all.

Brick by brick the walls went up:

Anger, resentment, hurt feelings, pride.

They grew higher and stronger and deeper,

Keeping us safe inside.

They became our home

Built by our own hands,

And the choices that we chose.

Brick by brick, stone by stone,

The vast brick walls arose.

What we did not know or understand

Was what they would cheat us of,

Not only the bad, but also the good,

They would limit the God of love.

It’s time to take down the walls,

Let us remove them one by one.

It won’t take long before we see,

We are letting in the Son.

Our lives can begin anew,

Each memory He can heal.

If we allow Him to transform our lives

And trust Him—I know He will.

Jeremiah 18:4 (NLT)“But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again.”

Our God is the God of second chances. He restores. He rebuilds. He heals. Do you

have broken things in your life and heart that need to be placed in His kind and loving hand?

Closing Prayer:

Lord God,I surrender before You in humility and trust. Give me the grace and courage to remove the walls I have built—the walls that limit Your work in my life. You know every disappointment and every wound that caused me to hide. I do not want to live behind those walls anymore. Make me like the tree that dances in Your breeze, reflecting Your glory in every season. I release the hurts. I choose to forgive. Heal my mind, body, and soul. Shape me into the image of Your Son. My trust is in You alone. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Devotional Takeaway:

Life and freedom begin when we live in and through Him without walls.

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This blog was taken from my book, Listen for His Whisper, a free download.