My first encounter with hearing God’s voice occurred with Hurricane David on August of 1979.
I had just given my life to Jesus Christ.
We lived on Key Biscayne Florida, which is an island surrounded by water.
My father, and my now deceased mother, were getting divorced and my father had left our home.
When Hurricane David was tracking across Santo Domingo, I I heard the voice of God, for the first time.
He told me that David would not hit Miami.
I told my parents that God had spoken.
Many people are shocked when hearing that God speaks personally.
I don’t know why that is so strange.
If He created the mouth, why should He not also speak?
I was an impulsive young man, full of faith in the God who had captured my heart, with His love.
David, however, was zeroing in on Miami.
Forty eight hours before arriving, the Key Biscayne Police Department drove through the island recommending everyone to evacuate.
I told my family!
“I am not leaving, because God told me that the hurricane is not going to hit. I am going to prove to you that God talks to me.”
We boarded up the home and my mother, brother, and sister left for a Holiday Inn, just outside Key Biscayne.
I remained with my Living Bible, a weather radio, and a few flashlights.
With the eye of the hurricane now 10 hours away, light rains began.
I watched TV and read verses from the Bible.
The winds and rains strengthened.
Suddenly the power went out!
With the lack of noise, I could plainly hear the ever-increasing winds.
My mother telephoned and pleaded with me to come to the Holiday Inn. I panicked.
I got the keys to the car to leave.
When I opened the front door, violent winds and horizontal rains bombarded me. There was no way out.
Trying to phone my mother, communication had dropped.
I did not know if I had heard a demon or God!
It was 1:00 AM.
The eye of David was to hit Miami at 6:00 AM.
My weather radio also lost power.
The only sounds were the screeches of the winds which became more boisterous by the minute.
I was petrified.
I got my Bible and the flashlight and read from the Book of Job.
It’s when we step out unto the fragile limb of faith that the Lord acts.
With flashlight shining on the giant print Bible I read.
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
God spoke to Job out of the whirl wind!
God was now speaking to me out of the whirl wind!
Job 40:15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
The behemoth in the King James Version is cattle or a water buffalo, or a rhinoceros.
But as I read this scripture, my flashlight hit a darkened part of the wall, and landed upon a huge white moth!
Behemoth….moth! The timing could only be God’s!
At 3:30 AM the winds increased all the more.
I got angry at God. I ranted. I climbed on top of a chair and shook my fist.
“You told me that the hurricane was not going to hit.” You are lying to me, I am going die out here.”
God answered Job and me from the whirlwinds.
He rebuked me for my panic attack!
Job 40:6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
7 Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
8 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Then in Job 42.
Job 42:8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
When I read “my servant Job shall pray for you”, I dropped the Bible, fell on my face and unto the cold white tile.
“Oh God, please forgive me, I was wrong. Please make the hurricane turn around.”
For ninety minutes I prayed, face on the icy floor.
The winds intensified the more.
I increased my prayers.
After an hour, with my face still buried the winds began to decrease.
By 5:00 AM there was a substantial reduction in the wind speed.
I kept on praying.
By six o clock the winds were only 50 miles per hour.
The eye of hurricane should have been on top of Miami.
I had no electricity or phone. I had no idea what occurred. I fell asleep exhausted.
Later I learned that at 5:00 AM when David was over the Bahamas, its steering currents shifted and prodded the hurricane northward.
What a miracle!
This is how I began to hear and learn the voice of God.
In the photo, notice the slight jog of the hurricane to the north very close to Florida. This is when I was praying.
Jose and Mary Alvarez 