By Briana Bass, Christian Romance Author, Devotional Writer & Certified Professional Coach

Hello, friends! This month I’m launching a series called 5 Ways God Speaks to Us. Every Wednesday in May I will release a new blog post focused on one of the ways we hear from God. Join me as we dive into this exciting topic!

Have you ever met someone and they changed your life? Do you look back and simply know that person was an angel sent by God? Or does this sound like a fairy tale?

Friend, let me tell you, it’s REAL. God puts people in our lives for a reason. Sometimes it’s obvious. The good Samaritan who helped you change your flat tire on the highway, or the nurse who happened to be at the mall food court when you choked on your drink.

Yet there are other people you wouldn’t expect God to use in your life. Think about the cashier at the fast-food restaurant who smiled at you when you were having a terrible day. Maybe that single, small act of kindness was the reminder you needed that your bad day was temporary.

God can use anyone and everyone to guide us, teach us, and reveal Himself to us.

Angels Among Us

There are so many ways God communicates with us. It’s not always in words! It can be in the actions of other people.

My mother and I have an annual girls’ weekend every December. We stay in a nice hotel, treat ourselves to a steak dinner, and shop at one of the largest malls in our area. One year, we were ready to head home when we discovered someone had broken the taillight on our car. This delayed us leaving the hotel and getting on a busy highway.

That delay, which was a few minutes at most, saved us from being involved in a bad car accident.

While we weren’t thrilled that someone damaged our car, we were ultimately grateful for God’s providence. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (KJV). That’s exactly what God did! God used a bad situation to keep us safe.

People Helping People

God speaks to us through other people. I’m not referring to prophets or those that claim to be mouthpieces for the Lord. I’m talking about individuals who appear in our lives because God put them there for a specific reason in a specific place and time.

A great Biblical example is Rahab. In the Book of Joshua, Israelite spies are sent to Jericho to scout out the land and the people currently inhabiting it. A prostitute named Rahab hides the spies from the King of Jericho, going so far as to commit treason to keep the spies safe. Who would have thought that God would use a non-Israelite, a woman, a prostitute to protect those men?

Yet God did use Rahab! Because of her bravery, the Israelite spies escaped and provided a positive report to Joshua who then led the Israelites across the Jordan River to destroy Jericho. While the victory belonged to the Lord, Rahab played an important part in the story. Who is God using in your life?

God Can Use Anyone… And Does!

The funny thing about God using other people to speak to you, is that God also uses you to speak to other people! We may not always know it. With hindsight we might realize it, but usually we have no idea the effect we have on someone else’s life. We can, however, rejoice and give thanks for those people who have changed our lives. Praise God for all the ways He speaks to us!