How to Listen to That Voice Inside

“One early morning around three o’clock as my husband and I was sleeping soundly, our four-year-old son somehow managed to unlock our front door and leave the house on an adventure! He walked all the way down our neighborhood block by himself in the dark.

“Eventually, he turned around and started back but got confused about which house was ours. Thankfully, he ended up in the yard of our next-door neighbors and tried to ride one of the bicycles left outside by their children that day making plenty of noise in the process. Several minutes later we were awakened by a loud knocking on our door.

“Being cautious, we didn’t want to open the door to a stranger in the middle of the night. So, we yelled through the door, ‘Who is it!?’ Our neighbor said to open the door because she had our son with her! ‘No way. That’s not possible,' I said. 'He’s asleep in his bed.’ Her voice (which I then recognized) came back with a panicked shout, ‘OPEN THE DOOR NOW!’

“Finally, we were convinced and opened the door. There stood our son in his pajamas, happy as could be. When questioned, he said he just wanted to find his new bicycle. We discovered that night what sleep-walking can do even to a child. And we were grateful for the wisdom of a good neighbor who listened to her own intuition in the middle of the night.” [B.C. 1973]

Possibilities and Imagination

Has that ever happened to anyone else? No, maybe not that same situation, but something that caused us to stop and listen to what’s going on in our minds. A moment when we are not sure what to do, but suddenly something tells us to turn around and go a different way or to stop and speak to that person we hardly know but who ends up helping us in a sticky situation.

Sometimes our thoughts, or intuition, will lead us into believing something is possible or likely. In fact, our gut feeling may have prompted us exactly like that when we finally made the decision to start a new single-again life. We saw it as a possibility. It may not have been our decision to begin with but slowly we listened to our own thoughts and started planning our future with some imagination.

No matter which stages we are in right now—shock, denial, fear, possibility, or I-can-do-this attitude—the fact remains, life goes on with or without us. So, let’s not get left behind and buried in the chaos of the past. Creating a life of peace and joy may be difficult, yes, but oh, so very worth it!

Welcome the Voice Inside

We all have voices inside from the time we are born. They direct us to choose right from wrong, truth from lies, friends from enemies, and harmony from pandemonium. The main question is then, how can we learn to recognize and separate the voices playing tug-of-war in our heads?

Maybe, just maybe, training our ears to accept the most decent and honorable paths will bring us our best life. To begin, we need to develop practices and patterns to help us stay on track, and then they will just become second nature to us. Try these one at a time and keep adding to them.

Comfort… life can be scary much of the time depending on which direction the world is going and, more importantly, how we respond to it. But there is one sure way we can practice this life-giving habit. Every morning open this amazing book called the Holy Bible and spend just a bit of time reading and listening to the heavenly voice of God. He will direct our best path.      

Trust… humanly speaking, it is difficult to trust just anyone. We know this from our previous relationship(s). But we can build better, more trustworthy friendships if we try.

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘What! you too? I thought I was the only one.’” [C.S. Lewis]

In the end, we need to remember, God is the only One whom we can put our faith in 100 percent of the time.

Prayer… Nothing we try will be more important than developing a habit of prayer. Many people don’t realize it’s not necessary to be inside a church building to pray or memorize a long, drawn-out prayer by rote.

In fact, the best thing about prayer is it’s simply a conversation with God. Since He is everywhere all the time, He can hear us speaking to Him and we don’t need any special words. Even just a one-line request, “Help me, God, to do well in this interview” is enough for Him to answer.      

“Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, ‘This is the way you should go,’ whether to the right or the left” (Isaiah 30:21 NLT).

What Language Do You Speak?

Writing you a Thank You!

Have you ever given a gift to someone and never heard a “Thank you” or heard back from them? It is sad when that happens. Perhaps the person was so overwhelmed with her/his busy days, she/he meant to offer thanks but never got around to it. And then it was forgotten.

We can probably understand and even relate to this cause because we ourselves may have fallen into this kind of scenario. When it occurs over and over with the same person, however, it can easily be attributed to bad manners. Or manners that were never taught as a child.

The Finer Points in Life

“A lady worked as a janitor in a company for many years. Now being a janitor is a pretty thankless job, which many of us might consider as a "dirty" job or at least pretty far down the totem pole. In other words, probably not a whole lot of fun.

“It happened the company changed owners. Within a few days, the new owner wrote a personal thank you card to every employee in the company. He had his assistant go around and hand them out.

“When this lady received and opened her card, she burst into tears. She asked if she could be excused from work. Thinking she was sick, she was allowed to leave for the rest of the day.

“They found out a few days later she had never received even a verbal thank you from the previous owners and management, much less a personal card. And she had worked there for 20 or 30 years! 

"So she was pretty touched when the new owner sent her a card of appreciation. She had been thinking the change of ownership was probably a good time to quit. She was planning to let them know that very day. 

"Which she didn't. Because the little time, the little effort of the owner to send a little business thank you card, helped the lady change her mind." 

(thank-your-stars.com)

We ARE the Difference!
As we can see by the story above, even the smallest act of thankfulness makes a huge difference in a person’s life. And for the most part, it does not cost anything to give it to someone. It only takes a little effort on our part! How do we know what kind of day the person is having? We don’t. So just maybe a word or card of thankfulness is all she needs to make the day bearable.  

In 1992, the book, “The 5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman was a big hit and still is. One of the “languages” he wrote about, affirmation is simply an expression we can offer to another person showing how much we appreciate them. And it can really make a difference.

Right now, during this health pandemic, there are so many first responders, nurses, doctors, food/grocery handlers, EMTs, ambulance drivers, transportation drivers, etc., etc. that could use our word of appreciation. We can all be aware of what an effort they are putting forth to help us--they deserve a huge “thank you!” Do not just ignore their dedication. Get creative and find a way to affirm them.

Each Moment of Our Lives

Our heavenly Father (God) has given us individually and collectively so many great gifts we cannot even count them all. He loves us, provides for us, watches over us, and protects us without us even knowing at times. He is there with us through each moment of our lives—good or bad. How have we thanked Him? How often? Even more than anyone else, He deserves our gratitude.

It is not difficult to talk to God. There is no need for complicated or memorized prayers. We just open our mouths and start talking as if we are talking to our best friend. He IS our Best Friend! He already knows us intimately because He created us in our mother’s womb. Just try it soon. He is waiting for that “Thank you!”

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT).