As a chaplain, I talk to many people about talking to God. Sometimes we feel inadequate, insignifcant or just plain scared to bother the divine with our chatter. This is our perception, not God's. Not only does God always listen, he speaks. When God speaks to us, whether in thunder or a whisper, it is by our name. God knows us and God loves us individually and personally. To name someone is to know them intimately. And God has named us and knows our voice. God is always present to us, but to encounter him is to change: not into something we are not, but to transform into who we really are. We are not our illness. We are flesh and blood that is destined to decay and be transformed by death. Mind, body and spirit are one, but the disease and suffering that afflict our mortal flesh cannot destroy the image of God within us. We are children of God, not cancer. We are suffering, but we are not lost. We are dying, but we are not forsaken. Death is transformation, not annihilation. To accept God’s love is to be transformed in this life into who we were meant to be – a unique child of God. A precious child who's voice is known to God.