On July 16, 2016, I was struck by lightning. I wrote a post titled, “I’m still standing,” a few days later. However, this event has been a mystery to me for a long time. The mere fact of being struck by lightning and surviving, is miraculous. As a personal reminder, I have a counter I pen in daily of how many gifted days I’ve lived since that experience.

I still needed to make sense of it. Why me? And for what reason?

What I did not include in the “I’m still standing ” post were all the questions I was asking in the days leading up to and including that day in July. Many questions, I admit, continued almost daily, just up to recently. For years my family and I had been experiencing so many puzzling and compounding circumstances that my questions just persisted as these events unfolded daily.

Silently I cried—a lot. For years.

Silently it crushed my spirit. For years.

I remember at one point reading in Job 36:32-33a, “He covers his hands with the lightning and commands it to strike the mark. Its crashing declares his presence;” I was overcome with joy to get some sense of meaning, convinced that when lightning struck, it was God declaring his presence. At that time, I embraced the significance of this, but I didn’t immediately connect it with my questions. It was a blur for me at the time.

Then on a recent Saturday morning, I sat down to write in my journal as I do every day. I remembered a new album by my friend René González, and started to listen to it. This prompted me to look for a post I had previously done titled “A Whisper” which included one of his songs in the form of a music video titled “Mi Vida,” or “My Life” After watching it, I re-read the post, and then it happened: My breakthrough was right there.

”The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.” Psalm 29:7

It took me a long time to fully understand. Two thousand five hundred thirteen days, to be exact. Almost seven years.

How did I not see it before? Why did it take me so long to understand? I wrote in my journal that morning:

“No words, I have no words. To have the knowledge that you speak and that you spoke to me directly goes beyond any comprehension of mine. Grateful, for sure! Maybe after all these years, all it meant was for me to have a sign, an event that would settle the questions: Do you hear me? Where are you? Will you speak to me?”

That day He was answering me in an unmistakenly way that I had not experienced before. Psalm 29:7 and Job 36:32-33a came alive for me. He was thunderously shouting:

“I AM here. I AM listening. I AM Speaking.”

I wept. For hours.

It is overwhelming for me to know that all this time, He was near, always listening and that He spoke to me directly. I went for almost seven years, not understanding. I sometimes believed the lie that He was far away, deaf, and mute. I was questioning, at times, even my faith when in fact, he had lovingly, mercifully, and hastily answered me.

Did I get the answer to my seven-year backlog of questions? Yes, because I am free from the lies that paralyzed me. The places that I retreated to are now full of light, and as David wrote in Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” and I believe that is all the truth we all need.

Two thousand five hundred thirteen days, almost seven years, is a long time. You don’t need to wait that long. You don’t need to be struck by lightning. All you need is the assurance that just as with me, He is shouting to you, I AM here. I AM listening. I AM Speaking.

Be free.

“BREATHE expectantly, LIVE confidently and MOVE Boldly”

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© Copyright Danny Maldonado, 2023

“Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”