Trust the Inner Voice

Below is an excerpt from Henri Nouwen's book, "The Inner Voice of Love":

 Do you really want to be converted? Are you willing to be transformed? Or do you keep clutching  your old ways of life with one hand while with the other you beg people to help you change?

 Conversion is certainly not something you can bring about yourself. It is not a question of will-power. You have to trust the inner voice that shows the way. You KNOW that inner voice. You turn to it often. But after you have heard with clarity what you are asked to do, you start raising questions, fabricating objections, and seeking everyone else's opinion. Thus you become entangled  in countless often contradictory thoughts, feelings, and ideas and lose touch with the God in you. And you end up dependent on all the people you have gathered around you. 

 Only by constantly attending to the inner voice can you be converted to a new life of freedom and joy. 

 The baby is napping & I have hopefully in front of me a couple precious hours of quiet. I grabbed this book, turned to this page and immediately found an expression of words that sum up this past season of my life. I feel like I have, in many ways, lost touch with the inner voice of God in my life. Not in all ways, but  many. I've been following what others have told me God is saying, rather than staying true to my own recognition of His voice. God has been showing me that the man-pleaser in me was crucified with Christ and I need to stop resurrecting it. He desires to transform me into His likeness, not someone else's. This is freedom, and I'm thankful for His kindness that reveals my wrong thinking and behavior. 

 Only by constantly attending to the inner voice can you be converted to a new life of freedom and joy. 

 I feel brought back to square one, the beginning where it's just You and me here now. It's a return to my first love, the place where there is fullness of love, peace, joy, wisdom & direction. It's a place where I never have to strive for acceptance or worry about rejection. He is the one place where who I truly am is desired. This kind of voice is found no where else but in Christ. Today I'm thankful that He is in me and I am in Him.

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