There are a lot of buzzwords out there right now that are looking hecka cute on wooden signs, office plaques, and Target shelves with ‘hustler’, ‘lady boss’, & ‘follow your heart’ kind of vibes. And at first I loved them. I would do my de-stress walk at Target with an Americano in hand, big red cart to push around for no apparent reason, just loving all the cute things. It felt like the cutesy encouragement items screamed from the shelves “you go girl” “Dream BIG” and I was hopeful... for about a minute.
I would drop off my big red cart either empty at the front of the store because nothing was even cute enough to fill the void I felt or I would buy all the things to bring a false hope of comfort to my life. I was sad, like actually sad this time. The last few years I finally hit something big enough in my life I couldn’t solve on my own. This new phase of life highlighted weaknesses in me no cute wooden sign or Reese’s Cup could bandage. I needed real encouragement, real uplifting and unfortunately my hustling and lady boss skills were not getting me closer to true healing.
I knew what I needed but I almost forgot how. I needed to hear from God. Not people, not wooden signs, not Pinterest, God. I needed a promise that would actually sustain me instead of just comfort me for a little while. And I know that there’s a difference between what the world can give and what Jesus offers. Not only because of this amazing scripture here, but because I felt it, seen it, been changed by it.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”John 14:27 (KJV)
Something happens when you hear from God. It’s like a strength that is deposited into your spirit that keeps you moving when you swear you would have stopped moving even weeks before. God comforts your spirit, not just your outer being. When you actually hear from God day by day you seem to get stronger mentally, more peaceful internally, and you are able to let things go that you were never able to let go of before.
So the question then becomes how do you hear from God? I refuse to even play with the question can you hear from God right now. Hopefully I can write that encouraging blog a different day but for today I want to focus on how. Since we know it’s so impactful, since we know it’s so motivating, since we know it’s the answer we’ve been hoping for-- how can we do it then.
My first piece of advice is that you allow yourself to believe what you already think is the voice of God in your life, is the voice of God— even if you are scared to admit it. Admit it, there have been times where you had a thought that wasn’t your own but you didn’t want to believe it for the fear of feeling crazy, or for the fear of it not being true, or for the fear of authority, or for the fear of the supernatural, or for the fear of the reality it brings. To be honest, if you don’t believe what you heard is the voice of God, then you don’t have to you act on it. But it was true!
For example, when you were lying in your bed crying yourself to sleep and you felt this overwhelming warm presence in your heart that whispered “Everything is going to be okay”— that was true, that was the still small voice of God. And last week when you were driving home from work and you had that gut feeling to call Aunt Peggy although you hadn’t called her for months, that was from God, that was an impression. He impressed upon you to do something because he knew that’s what Peggy needed that moment and you brightened her whole day.
How about that night last month you had a dream and somehow you remember it to this day. You just know that it holds some significant meaning but you’re not really sure what it is because you haven’t taken the time to ask God about it- but the dream lingers in your mind. God does speak through dreams. And that time your friend was telling you about her heartbreak and you wanted to listen the best you could but all you could see was an image of her in a wedding dress smiling beautifully in a sunflower field. God does speak through pictures--- that was Him.
Then possibly my most favorite way— because it becomes so obvious— God can speak through confirmations. I’ve heard some really good examples of this over the years. Where you kind of know something is from God whether it’s a direction or a new season coming up, or the next step you need to take. And instead of just going with it we kind of wait and see if it’s from God. Which to be honest isn’t the wrong thing to do. We always want to make sure that something is actually from God not just from our own heart. So He confirms it. He confirms it through the radio playing a song, He confirms it through the sermon at church, He confirms it from a random woman at the grocery store, He confirms it when your kid comes home with Sunday school homework about it— boom it’s been confirmed. God is speaking through all that.
And finally, and most importantly, and I hope it’s the most obvious, God speaks through His Word. We hear that God‘s word is alive and active and if you need convincing of that then I encourage you to check on that for yourself. Do some scholarly research. But for the sake of a short blog post, let's just say that His word is alive and active. He highlights scriptures to us, words jump off a page, we feel it in our spirit that something about this ancient text is speaking to our current situation. At the beginning of this post I said I forget sometimes how to hear the voice of God although opening the Bible would have been so simple. Instead I would run into Target hoping to get a little cheerful. It sounds boring, it sounds outdated, and it sounds like work to open the Bible and find some encouragement there-- but it works, every single time I allow space in my day He totally intrigues me through His word.
My second piece of advice is to reach out to someone you know and trust— possibly even Tiffany from this website, The Inspire Shop, and connect with them about hearing the voice of God. Maybe you’ve never experienced it, maybe you fully doubt it is possible, maybe you used to experience it and just haven’t given yourself time and space for it to happen again. Maybe you’re mad at God and understandably so, this world is treacherous at times. Still though, reach out. Take the time to be with someone who can guide you along because you know once you hear the voice of God you’ll actually be strengthened, encouraged, and filled up.
My last piece of advice is to talk about it. A bunch of us are walking around in this modern day society knowing that God can speak and are kind of hiding that treasure from others. Get encouraged by God yourself so you can then encourage others! You’ll be surprised how many other people know that they’re hearing from God in different ways but this doesn’t seem to be the most comfortable topic to talk about yet. It really fires me up that we’re not talking about! If God really created us and He created us to have a relationship with Him, we should be talking about how He communicates in that relationship!
Wouldn’t it be nice to remind the wandering soul at Target, like myself, that God speaks and they don’t have to feel empty! So let’s talk about it. Deal with whatever is holding you back from hearing and knowing the voice of God whether it be your fear, boredom, apathy, and let’s talk about it.
// ABOUT KERRI
Kerri Naber is an Upstate NY native living in sunny Sacramento, California. She works at a Christian nonprofit dedicated to helping young women break free from life-controlling behaviors and situations.
Kerri is a newlywed with a Corgi Puppy that is slowly learning how to bring routine and health into her life. As an Enneagram Type Seven she is constantly dreaming, creating, and trying to get to San Francisco. You’ll find her writing to constantly reflect both her love of The Lord and love of all things fun. Find her on instagram at @Kerri_Naber and over on her blog.