I think God interacts with every person uniquely, so I can only really share how I discern God's voice in my life.
The Little Voice
I listen to my gut. Literally. When something is amiss, I get cramps. When I am following my "call", my digestive tract feels fine. Checking in with my physical reaction helps for small daily decisions (Should I return that phone call? Should I respond to that Facebook post which upset me?), but also for larger decisions.
When I had to decide whether to let my teaching certification lapse or take a bunch of classes to renew it, I trusted my gut. I sat with the idea of signing up for the classes and had horrible pain. I sat with the idea of letting the certification lapse, which went against my common sense, and I felt relief. Since letting it lapse, I have been drawn to work that doesn't require that certification.
The Big Voice
Every once in awhile...maybe once a year or so...I have an experience that actsince
involves words. Generally, it is a sentence that I hear. The sentence is in my own voice and in my own head. No one else hears it. There isn't an external way for me to "test" it. I know it is from God for two reasons:
1. The words said shock me. They aren't expected. They are orthogonal to what I had been thinking.
2. The words sit well in my gut (see The Little Voice).
I have several examples of hearing the Big Voice, and I will try to write up a few in other blog posts. The example I'll give now is the latest one that's happened to me.
An Example
Every time I've changed churches, it has been due to external circumstances... I moved. I was offered a job at a different church.
I thought poorly of people who jump from church to church every few years. I wasn't going to be that person...
But this spring, following the gut test, I decided to start visiting other churches, to see if I (and my family) should stay at our current church or if we should start considering a change. I had it all planned out. Over a year or so, we would occasionally visit another church, and then maybe decide. Instead, that Sunday, as I was walking out of the church we had attended for the last five years, I heard: "Well, that's that. You're done here."
Wait! That wasn't my plan! I was going to ease out! I was going to have another church waiting in the wings first! How would the church possibly survive if I left all my important posts so abruptly!
But then I noticed my physical reaction. My gut was the most calm it had been in months. My shoulders relaxed. I realized that I could easily hand off my tasks to other competent people.
I have several examples of hearing the Big Voice, and I will try to write up a few in other blog posts. The example I'll give now is the latest one that's happened to me.
An Example
Every time I've changed churches, it has been due to external circumstances... I moved. I was offered a job at a different church.
I thought poorly of people who jump from church to church every few years. I wasn't going to be that person...
But this spring, following the gut test, I decided to start visiting other churches, to see if I (and my family) should stay at our current church or if we should start considering a change. I had it all planned out. Over a year or so, we would occasionally visit another church, and then maybe decide. Instead, that Sunday, as I was walking out of the church we had attended for the last five years, I heard: "Well, that's that. You're done here."
Wait! That wasn't my plan! I was going to ease out! I was going to have another church waiting in the wings first! How would the church possibly survive if I left all my important posts so abruptly!
But then I noticed my physical reaction. My gut was the most calm it had been in months. My shoulders relaxed. I realized that I could easily hand off my tasks to other competent people.
My son and I found our new church by way of his intuition... After our first Sunday worship service there, he turned to me and said, "I think we have found our new church!"
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