7 minute read
Tea Time with Tina
HE HEARD MY VOICE
by Tina A. Gallo, co-written with Carrie Christopher
The Lord plants dreams in our hearts at a very early age, fearfully the Bible describes Jesus as the Great shepherd and His followers as His sheep. Those that follow Jesus “hear and know” His voice over all the other competing, counterfeit voices that bombard us daily. Many tests have proven that when sheep are in a field and called by anyone other than the shepherd, they ignore and will not respond to the foreign voice. While grazing in the fields, their Shepherd’s voice resounds above all else and prepares them for action; as they stop instinctively and with fervency, they begin to run toward him knowing that their shepherd is going to tend to their needs. God desires His flock to recognize and respond to His voice the same way.
While many were counting down the minutes to the new year and kissing 2020 joyfully goodbye, I was suffering in a hospital bed attacked by a severe kidney infection for seven long, grueling days. Seven days of plaguing pain reared its ugly head in an array of fiery trials. Just days before, my brother Frank, whom I hadn’t seen in a few years, graciously flew in to spend Christmas with my son and me. My heart was yearning to bring in the new year together as a family, with hopes that Covid’s pandemic mayhem was going to be a year in the past. The excitement to spend family time together was now lost, feeling stolen. You see, this past year felt like a year of ransacking for me; the enemy literally attempted to steal everything - my business, my career, my car, relationships, and my life. Yet God had protected and cared for me through it all, even when the tornado swept through my Nashville, TN home.
Entering into the year 2021, I was lying on a cold hospital bed in a dark, lonely room with cemented walls, an IV in my arm, and no visitors allowed. The only ball that was dropping was my hope; my heart was troubled, despair lingered, a flood of negative voices infiltrated my mind with the trauma that the past year had presented me, all compounded by my current affliction. The lie of defeat gnawed my soul, promising that things would never change no matter how hard I pressed on through. These deceiving voices were trying to convince me that the storms and mountains to climb would last forever, attempting to wear me down. The variety of medications running through my veins to help with the physical pain weakened me, clouded my emotions and thoughts, and aided to push me into further depressing feelings of hopelessness. I could feel myself slipping into a realm of despair and hopeless impossibilities as I fell in and out of sleep. Mustering up some God-given strength, I began crying out to God.
As the warm sunshine peeked in through the hospital window, His holy light began to strike my heart. My Shepherd was calling me, awakening me to a new day with new mercies. Revelations of God encircled me, spoke to me, and called me from despair to hope. His Holy Spirit’s voice was building my faith back up as I was reminded that every crisis that was meant to harm me, God intended to use for good. What could easily be seen as impossible mountains to climb - tornadoes, robbery, hospitals, Covid’s destruction of financial instability - were actually entry points for God to show off His miraculous hand of intervention.
I knew this familiar voice and the words spoken to me were right from His book, the Bible. These words brought life to my soul as they spoke the truth of God’s promises into my spirit. God declares in His word: I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5 NIV) Peace had returned, His voice was restored deep in my mind, and His Word planted in my heart produced hope that He would redeem this situation, too.
Finally home and recuperated from the hospital, I could barely wait to go to the barn to see my horse, Journey Boy. It had been 2 weeks since we spent any time together and I was missing him terribly. I bundled up on this cold, brisk, windy afternoon and headed to the farm. As I excitedly walked up to the pasture, I could see out in the distance the horses grazing and eating their hay. I called out to Journey and, without hesitation, he stopped eating, perked up his ears, looked over to me, and headed my direction. He recognized me, knew my call, and obeyed my voice. My heart was elated that this powerful, majestic 1200 lb. horse missed our time together as much as I did. He was so playful and genuinely happy to see me. Journey’s trust and faith in me allowed him to come when I called, no matter the length of time since we had seen each other last. He knew and believed I was his faithful leader and caretaker, because of our consistent quality time together.
While grooming Journey, I sensed the Lord showing the duality between my hospital memories and His presence as our Good Shepherd. The Lord began to show me how much He desires to fellowship with His children, and how much He loves us and enjoys being with us. I thought about how sad it is if we only come to God in our time of need to make requests. How can we truly know Him, what He’s saying, or when He is speaking to us if we don’t have intimacy with Him in the same way we need in order to have any type of a personal healthy relationship?
The first step to hearing God’s voice is knowing Him. The more we know God, the clearer we can hear Him. Reading our Bibles bears revelation about the character of God and what the scriptures teach us about trusting the Holy Spirit to bring clarity and discernment to the enlivening, written words that connect to and illuminate our spirits. When we honor God and humble ourselves in prayer, we are free to ask Him to reveal Himself to us as we prepare our hearts and minds to hear from Him.
(Luke 24:45, NIV)
Just like hearing the voice of our natural father, hearing the voice of God should be the most natural thing for us believers.
The Shepherd’s voice is calling; He is calling out to those who are lost to follow His voice home. He is calling out to those who are distant, bellowing a hearty invitation of love to be close to you. He is calling out to those who have been waiting for His rescue, reassuring you He is coming. Just like He spoke to me in the midst of despair and paralysis, He desires to speak to you. And despite the days that I had missed seeing my horse Journey Boy, he came when I called. It’s the same when we grow to know God’s perfect love - we will gallop into His presence with pure abandonment.
Tina Gallo has been in the entertainment industry for over 30 years. She is an award-winning professional actress who commands attention and brings life and vitality into each of her roles. She is a method-trained actress who studied with the best – Lee Strasberg, Uta Hagen, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner and Jack Waltzer. Tina has extensive TV, Film, Commercial and Theater credits.
She is best known for her past role as DiDi on the soap opera “General Hospital.”
After years of taking a step away from the industry to raise her children, the Lord stirred her heart by calling her to return to the spotlight. Tina’s relaunched career includes a zealous appreciation for the Lord to move in power in the acting world, and film industry and is expectant for how He will move. Tina’s passion has become a God-given purpose; she desires to orchestrate Christ-saturated media and beyond.
In between the blessing of acting, Tina teaches acting classes in person and online and is the founder of ‘The Nashville Studio of Method Acting’ in Nashville, TN.
You can register for online acting classes with Tina! Accepting all experience levels, including adults, teenagers and children.
Register at:https://tinagallo30.wixsite.com/acting
She also coaches on film sets and travels to other acting schools throughout the southeast region to speak and coach acting workshops, online or in person. Contact Tina if you’re interested in inviting her to lead your next workshop, combining acting and Christian passion and purpose.
