Navigating the Path to Discerning God's Voice: A Journey of Prayer and Solitude | Ep 3

Ever felt the clamor of modern life drowning out your connection to a higher power? Find solace as we walk with you on a journey to reclaim the sacred space of prayer, solitude, and hearing God's voice. On this episode, Tiffany and Mary share their experiences and insights about the power of prayer and the significance of discerning God's voice in our lives. Tiffany shaes her experience of a transformative 21-day prayer journey.

Mary opens up about her struggles with social media and modern distractions that often cloud our minds and hearts, taking us away from the peaceful stillness we need to truly hear God's voice. We discuss the ways God communicates with us and the vital role quietness plays in this divine interaction. Mary impresses upon us the need to give ourselves permission to disconnect from the noise and seek peace. To close our conversation, we encourage you, our listeners, to initiate your own 21-day prayer journey. Tune in, and let's navigate together this enriching path of hearing God's voice, a journey that has the potential to revolutionize your prayer life and deepen your faith.

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Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to In His Hands podcast from Women for Women. We're here to help you find peace in knowing you are in God's hands. Our goal is sharing the Word of God in simple conversations. We're here to help you thrive every day. And now, here are your hosts.

Tiffany: 0:18

Good morning. I'm Tiffany Windsor and I'm Mary, and today we want to talk about how do you hear God's voice. I had the opportunity recently to participate in 21 Days of Prayer at my church and Mary, it was life-changing for me.

Mary: 0:37

And I'm wishing I had participated.

Tiffany: 0:41

What I found. Well, first of all, we launched the In His Hands community through my 21 Days of Prayer because it brought me into deeper focus For those of you who have not participated in prayerfulness like this, which I had not I had no idea what I was walking into, but I knew I needed to do it. And here's the great thing it happened from 7 am to 8 and I didn't need to be to work till 8.30, so I had no excuses. First day we started with our pastor praying, and then someone would come up for 10 minutes or so and just talk testimony, just giving testimony of amazing experiences in their lives and challenges. And then we would take about 20 minutes and they would turn on the worship music, and it was loud.

Tiffany: 1:38

And the reason for that was because our pastor encouraged everyone to lay on the floor, sit in the chair, speak out loud but try not to interrupt their neighbor, and if the music's loud enough you could not hear them. They could go outside, walk wherever they wanted to pray. So for me it was just sitting in the chair and listening to the most amazing worship music, some of which I had not heard, that have now become my favorites, and 20 minutes of that, and then we wrapped up in group prayer. For me, day three was a huge turning point. I came back to my office and I had the opportunity open where I was able to give notice that I wanted to retire from that job next year, and it was the most beautiful unfolding that I had been worrying about a bit and so I knew the Lord was present in that moment as it unfolded.

Mary: 2:39

Have you taken part in any sort of multiple days of prayer, not like that, not this powerful, prolonged, wonderful gathering, and we talked about how we don't like the word corporate prayer. Right, it's the body. It's the body of Christ and we all play a part with our gifting, and that's what you witnessed and experienced and so powerful is a testimony, it's the test that brings the faith, and we all go through tests and trials and to hear people on the other side of the trials, I think that maybe that part is missing and that's maybe why so many visitors to church when they share their testimony and being on the other side of it is so powerful, and that's what we're bringing here too is the triumphant experience on the other side of the trial, that what feels like a long valley of the shadow, there's triumph and glory and hope and help on the other side.

Tiffany: 3:42

When we talk about how do you hear God's voice. It can come to us in so many ways. I believe that we have to be still in our prayer, at least for me. I'm not going to script out for other people. For me, I need to be quiet in pure prayer in order to hear God's voice. Sometimes the messages come through to me quickly, sometimes they don't, but I can always tell when it's God's voice. There's a feeling to it, there's a clarity to it. I know that it's not me thinking those thoughts, because I would not be able to come up with what I'm hearing, and so I just encourage everyone to take time and I know a lot of people do this but don't make it that it's just part of your everyday routine. Oh, I need to open the Bible. Oh, I need to pull out my journal. I need to take notes. Find that moment when you can be so quiet with God that you can hear his voice.

Mary: 4:44

That has been so powerful. I have journals filled with just the one on one. The God is able and he will meet you and talk with you about all your personal issues and hopes and dreams and everything that's going on in your life. But he will meet with you and I have kind of lost my way with that, where it's become rote and very formulaic and I haven't been able to meet with God in that way. I was in the past or this beautiful way you've described, where you hear his voice and I want that back. So it's a journey back to getting that and I hope I'm able to find that, you know, with practice.

Tiffany: 5:24

It's so interesting because I love to write but I don't journal. To me it's more thought, it's thoughtfulness that I do in the moment. Rather than putting those thoughts on a piece of paper, it's just thinking them and then listening. We definitely have different paths on that. I think that's very cool.

Mary: 5:45

Yes, and we're all different and God will speak to us in different ways. I find if I don't write it, I'll forget it, and then I still forget it, and so I've kept all my journals and it's been very helpful to go back and read where God met me, that he did, he was faithful, and that we felt alone at the time, ended up being just him, showing up and showing his power, knowing that it was him and not anyone else. I just love what you were saying about the hard conversation that you were worrying about on day three and God is a God of showing us those things. Day three, three days in the tomb with Jesus and the three on the crosses on Calvary.

Tiffany: 6:28

Oh my gosh, I hadn't even thought about that. But yes, when I tell my testimony it was on day three. And it was so such an incredible unfolding. Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for putting that, putting that into perspective. For me, that's going to take that journey even deeper.

Mary: 6:46

I got the three in one and that Jesus had to leave to give us the Holy Spirit, our counselor, our advocate. And on the worst days, I remember I do have the counselor with me counseling me, even if I can't hear him, if I'm not still enough, but I will. I'm getting there as hard as it is.

Tiffany: 7:06

But put a sign on the wall like I do, and I have to look at it all the time. Be still and know that I am God. Because there's too much chatter going on right now. It's so easy to get distracted. Everyone wants to distract us, from family obligations to work obligations, to world obligations. It's really important that we are still and listen to God. If you can do it another way, if you can do it in the chatter, god bless you, because that has never worked for me. I am grateful that I do have a lot of quiet time in my life in order to open up to God for those moments.

Mary: 7:43

And I am struggling with the chatter and I notice I, if I have a moment's time, I scroll on social media and even though I don't have the sound going, sometimes it's a mental chatter that is so busy that even if I turn it off and I don't look at it an hour later, it's still very noisy in my mind and I don't know what that is, but I'm convicted of not seeking rest or respite from my own thoughts by turning to other people's thoughts on social media.

Mary: 8:17

Whatever it may be feeling like, I have to be informed or I have to see what everybody else is doing. I don't and I love permission, so I give myself permission and you permission to not look at social media because it's so noisy in a way that I can't even describe. It's noisy in a way that's stealing my peace, and I don't want that for me or for you. Our website and format is that it's not the noise, it's the truth and it's the tools and it's the encouragement and how hearing someone go through a trial builds faith, and so that's what this is to it's faith-building and encouraging versus tearing down and destroying.

Tiffany: 9:02

To wrap up, I do want to encourage everyone to find their own time for their own 21 days of prayer If it's not offered at church or you're not part of a church community yet because it will change your life and open you up to listening and hearing God's voice. Amen, Be blessed, my friends.

Announcer: 9:23

Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. For more information, go to inhishandscommunitycom. Sign up for our newsletter and social media. We love your feedback. Please leave reviews, comments and subscribe to this podcast to help us get the word out about inhis hands. Thank you and, dear friends, have a blessed day.