Quiet yourself to listen to God's voice

"It is written, God has given me the capacity to hear and obey his voice."

-Psalm 40:6 (NIV)

As I write this column, I have the window by my computer open. Each time a car drives by I can hear the water on the pavement make a splashing sound, as car tires roll across the rain water left there from the morning downpour.

In the background, I can hear the faint sounds coming from the TV in the living room. And a few songbirds stop by my window from time-to-time to serenade me with a tune.

Noise is everywhere. Most times we're so used to the daily sounds, we simply tune them out, and we're unaware they're still there rumbling through our head.

Each day I try to find a quiet spot where I can sit and quiet my mind. Many people call this meditation. I consider it quieting my soul so I can hear the voice of God. Some people think God is too holy or mighty to speak to us. Others believe they are not worthy to hear from God. Regardless, the Bible is clear that he speaks to us and in many ways.

Over the years, I've heard the voice of God's spirit give me amazing guidance and direction. It wasn't always something major, either. Years ago while shopping, anytime I tried putting an item back on a shelf where it didn't belong, each time I felt uneasy. So I followed my conscience took the extra time to neatly tuck it back in place on the shelf I took it from. I believe it was God teaching me a lesson on keeping things orderly and to be respectful of the store workers' efforts. When we're feeling a strong impression or uneasy about something, I've noticed it's often God directing.

Although there are times I can sense his direction, there are other times in my life, no matter how hard I tried to hear his voice, it seemed he was silent.

Jesus would often retreat to a quiet place where he could relax and quiet himself, to hear from our heavenly Father. Doing so he learned to recognize clearly when and how God was speaking. When out in public, Jesus' trained ear could hear from God; yet many of the bystanders only heard rumbles of thunder (John 12:29). They were unfamiliar with the ways God speaks. All they heard was noise around them and mistook his voice for the thunder.

Over the years, I've observed some of the practical ways God speaks to us.

Once I was invited to a new church on three separate occasions. I followed up on the invitation and found it to be a good fit for my next level of spiritual growth. I figured the message was repeated until I received it.

Another time when I shared with a friend how emotionally weak I was, she pointed out differently. This gave me a new insight I hadn't seen about myself, and helped me to start seeing myself in a new way. I thank God he sometimes uses others to speak into our lives.

The way that I enjoy the best, is following that gut intuition when you feel something is absolutely right or wrong. This has spared me many mistakes in my life from choosing friends, purchases and jobs. It brings great blessings.

Summertime can provide us with a relaxing time on the patio chair or comfy hammock, and a great way to clear our heads from the demons of distracting noise.

As people of faith, instead of troubling ourselves over hearing from God, trusting him to guide us and help us hear what we need to can take the worry and strain from the cares of life.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.