Baby Steps with Christ

How I Learned to Hear God’s Voice: My Personal Encounter With God

• Leigh Trupin

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How do you know when God is speaking to you? 

In the very first episode of Baby Steps with Christ, host Leigh Trupin shares the moment that changed everything—the first time she clearly felt God speak to her.

This episode is about discovering that God is personal, present, and able to communicate with you directly—without religious performance, church attendance, or spiritual checklists.

Leigh shares a real-life encounter where an unexplainable sense of urgency led her to save her dog, Cha-Chi—marking the beginning of her journey toward learning how God speaks. She also shares a second moment, inside a church, where God spoke to her during anger, confusion, and spiritual struggle, revealing that He can meet us exactly where we are.

In this episode, you'll hear:

  • How God can speak to you outside of religious settings
  • Why you don’t have to be “doing everything right” for God to show up
  • Why it’s okay to be honest—even angry—with God
  • How to begin recognizing God’s voice in your own life

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🔗How I Learned to Hear God’s Voice: My Personal Encounter With God


Welcome to the very first episode of Baby Steps with Christ. I'm your host, Leigh Trupin. This is the podcast where we take small baby steps towards developing a real relationship with God without the traditional prerequisites of church attendance, daily Bible readings, tithing, or any other religious expectations. This is where we take baby steps towards knowing God for ourselves without a middleman. Here we learn we have direct access to God and we can go straight to the source. We learn to recognize who God is for ourselves.

Today I want to share with you the first time I clearly felt God speak to me. I encountered Him in a personal, undeniable way. And that moment became the start of a journey I didn't even know I was on. A journey towards discovering who God really is and what it means for me to hear his voice. And it didn't happen in what most would consider the obvious place. I wasn't in church or in any religious setting. I wasn't even searching for him. I didn't even know him.

It was an ordinary day in an ordinary place. I was in Walmart with my twin daughters who were six at the time. They're 24 years old now, but they were six at the time, and I remember this day as if it were yesterday. We were shopping for a bark collar for our dog Cha-chi. And I didn't think he was able to accompany us into Walmart, so I left him in the car while we ran in. And as I got to the pet department, I had this overwhelming feeling to go check on him.

I tried to ignore it, but I could not shake this feeling. It was persistent and it was urgent. Finally, I gave up trying to fight it, and I grabbed my daughter's hands and we ran for the exit. And as I got close to the exit, I saw this cute dress I just had to look at. And as I'm admiring this dress, the feeling to go check on Cha-chi intensified. And I dropped the dress, once again, grabbed my daughter's hands and ran out in a panic. I had no idea why I felt the way I did.

And as I'm running towards the car, I had another overwhelming feeling to leave the girls on the sidewalk while I go check on Cha-chi. So I placed the girls to the side, told them I'd be right back, and I ran to the car. And as soon as I got there, I realized exactly why I was there. When I got there, Cha-chi was hanging by his leash. He had jumped over the seat and the leash got caught in between them and it caused him to hang.

He wasn't moving. He had drool all over his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot. I thought he was dead. And I quickly opened up the door to unhook him, and thank God, he started to come back around. I felt terrible. I was in shock. I couldn't understand how I knew to check on him with such urgency. And it took a while before I could leave that dog in the car alone again, and never with his leash on. But I had no idea what had just happened. I was dumbfounded.

And over time I eventually realized there is a God and He speaks to us. And I couldn't wrap my head around this new concept. I always thought church is where you found God. I always heard that God will reveal Himself to you if you search for Him. Well, I wasn't in church and I wasn't searching. But He found me and He introduced Himself to me. And that's not to say God doesn't speak to you in church. Of course He does. He speaks to you anywhere.

As a matter of fact, I was in church when He told me I would write my book, Dear New Believer Love God. And before I get into that story, I want to be very clear about something. Just because I say it's not mandatory to go to church, read your Bible every day, and tithe in order to develop a relationship with God, I'm not saying that you shouldn't do these things. If that's what you believe God is leading you to do, then do it. If that's what you want to do, do it. I'm simply saying that these things are not a must in order to know who God is.

Like I was saying, I was in church when God told me I would write my book. And by this time, I had already been introduced to both God and Satan. And I'll go further into that story in my next episode. But I was in church in the middle of my spiritual battle when God spoke to me. And I had unintentionally invited Satan into my life and given him complete control over me. I was a mess. I was attending church regularly in hopes of being set free from Satan's control over me.

And on this particular day, I remember sitting there angry at God. Here I was doing everything I thought I should do to be set free from Satan's control over me. And nothing was working. Man, I was pissed at God. I blamed him for the situation I was in. Now I don't feel that way anymore. I know I was the reason I was in my situation, but at that time I didn't know any better, and I was pissed at him.

So I sat there silently cursing him out. I cursed him out like you wouldn't believe. There was no respect, no holding back. I told him exactly what I thought of him. I told him how much I hated him. And when I finally ran out of things to say, I just sat there in silence, not knowing what else to do. And then it happened, he spoke to me. Now let me tell you something. If someone spoke to me the way I just spoke to God, there would be no way I would speak to that person.

Not respectfully, anyway. I would have a few of my own choice words in response to such disrespect. But that's me. That's not God. He spoke to me calmly. He told me I would write a book. And years later I wrote, Dear new believer, love God. And here's what I learned. God doesn't need to be in good standing with you in order for him to speak to you. He can handle your anger. He can handle how you speak to him.

And that was a completely new concept for me. I always thought it wasn't okay to be upset with God. And I definitely didn't think it was okay to curse him out. But I'm here to tell you it is. However, you feel about God is okay. Tell him about it. He already knows, but tell him anyway. And then wait. Wait to see how he shows up. I can't explain how I know when God speaks to me. I just know. Because through my experiences with him, I've learned how he speaks to me.

God will communicate with you in a way that captures your attention. And as you build your relationship with him, you'll begin to recognize his voice more clearly in your own life. It takes time, it takes practice, but it is possible. You can learn how God communicates with you personally. It's my prayer that something in this episode stirred your heart and encouraged you to take your next baby steps with Christ.

I invite you to download my free guide for this episode. It's designed to help you take simple, daily baby steps with God throughout the week. It's designed to help you develop your own relationship with God. And you can grab it at my website at babystepswithchrist.com or click on the link in the show notes. And I hope you'll check out my book, Dear New Believer Love God. It's available on Amazon.

And if this episode resonated with you, please like it and share it with someone. It really helps others find the show. And I want to leave you with this. You can't understand what's being taught in church and in the Bible without first knowing who God is. And you get to know him through a relationship. And religion isn't relationship. So together, let's take baby steps towards building a relationship with God at your own pace without any pressure.

Tune in next time where I'll share with you my encounter with Satan. Because knowing your enemy is just as important as knowing God. If you don't recognize Satan's tactics, it can be detrimental to your walk with God. I found this out the hard way. Thanks for listening. Until next time, I hope you'll take baby steps with Christ.

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