Latest / She Speaks Life - Christian Women, Strengthen Your Faith, Bible Study, Grow Spiritually In Christ / Am I Really Hearing God? How to Discern His Voice in Difficult Seasons With Rachael Groll
Transcript
- 0:00Hey, welcome back to she speaks live podcast.
- 0:02Today's conversation is 1 I believe will minister deeply to
- 0:06anyone who has ever wondered, am I really hearing God's voice?
- 0:11Maybe you've prayed you stepped down faith and then faced some
- 0:15heartbreak, confusion or some disappointment.
- 0:19Maybe you've questioned whether it was God leading you or was it
- 0:22just your own emotions. Well, our guest today, Rachel
- 0:26Grohl, knows that struggle personally.
- 0:28After an international adoption journey ended in devastation
- 0:33when the son she was trying to adopt was trafficked, her faith
- 0:37was tested in so many ways she had ever imagined.
- 0:41After investing in in lots of prayer and hope and finances and
- 0:46love into bringing a child home, her and her husband had to
- 0:50choose to trust God through profound loss.
- 0:54But through that painful season, Rachel discovered a life
- 0:58anchoring truth. God's voice never contradicts
- 1:02His Word and discernment is not built on feelings.
- 1:05It it grows through knowing the character, promises, and truth
- 1:09of God through Scripture. Rachel is an author, speaker,
- 1:13Bible teacher, missions advocate, and the host of
- 1:16Hearing Jesus and Hearing Jesus for Kids podcast.
- 1:21She is passionate about helping people make scripture practical
- 1:25for everyday life. And today we'll be talking about
- 1:28her newly released devotional called Hearing Jesus 365 daily
- 1:33encounters with Jesus and diving into how we can grow in
- 1:37confidence, hearing God's voice, discerning truth and trusting
- 1:41him in difficult seasons and learning to obey his leading
- 1:45with peace. This is such a powerful and
- 1:48hopeful conversation, so let's dive in.
- 1:51Here's guest Rachel Roll. Hi, Rachel.
- 1:54Welcome to She Speaks Live. Yeah.
- 1:56Thanks for having me, excited to spend some time chatting
- 1:58together today. Yes, I am looking forward to it
- 2:01too. And I absolutely love this
- 2:04message that we are going to be talking about.
- 2:08You had written a devotional book called Hearing Jesus 365
- 2:14Daily Devotions for Women, and it's really about recognizing
- 2:19and responding to God's voice and every season of our life.
- 2:23And we can't get enough of that encouragement.
- 2:26So I'm looking forward to hearing more about your back
- 2:29story and everything inside this devotional.
- 2:33But before we do, I always love to kick off with what is your
- 2:38favorite scripture verse? Or maybe it's a scripture verse
- 2:40that's just resonating with you right now.
- 2:43And why? Where I've been parked at right
- 2:45now is a couple verses out of Psalm 119.
- 2:48And so if it's OK, I was just going to share those couple
- 2:50verses. Absolutely.
- 2:53It starts in verse 773. It says you made me.
- 2:56You created me. Now give me the sense to follow
- 2:59your commands. May all who fear you finding me
- 3:02A cause for joy, for I put my hope in your word.
- 3:06I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair.
- 3:09You discipline me because I needed it.
- 3:12Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised
- 3:15me, your servant. And you know that line that
- 3:19strikes me in there is you disciplined me because I needed
- 3:22it. And I'll be perfectly honest,
- 3:25the Lord told me a couple days ago to start writing out Psalm
- 3:29119. And for anybody that has studied
- 3:33the Psalms, we're in the Psalms right now on my show, but Psalm
- 3:35119 is the longest Psalm that we have.
- 3:38And so I got out my notebook and I have had my Bible sitting next
- 3:43to my bed and I just have it started.
- 3:44I just was dragging my feet because I'm like, that's an
- 3:47undertaking. It's going to take me a minute.
- 3:49And it was so that's, that was a couple days ago.
- 3:52And then this morning, I was actually doing some research for
- 3:55my show, for something that I'm going to be working on for a
- 3:58prayer series. And I was working through a
- 4:01number of resources. And the Lord drew my attention
- 4:05to something called the the Golden Prayer.
- 4:07And I was like, oh, I, I wonder what that is?
- 4:09And I clicked on it. And don't you know, when I
- 4:11opened it up, it was Psalm 119. And it was just this sacred echo
- 4:15with the Lord. It just kind of felt like he
- 4:17just put his hand on my back. It was like kind of kindly
- 4:20gently pushing me back to what he had already told me to do.
- 4:23And I thought, man, that's such a clear example to me of the
- 4:26discipline of a loving father. Like, OK, girl, I already told
- 4:29you what you need to do. Can you stop wasting time and go
- 4:32back to doing what I told you to do?
- 4:34And I love that because one of the things I say in this book,
- 4:38which I think kind of is a nice segue, is yes.
- 4:41You know, there are these moments where the Lord speaks to
- 4:44us and we know it. I call it in our nowhere.
- 4:46I tell my kids we know it in our nowhere.
- 4:48You know, he speaks to our heart.
- 4:49But the primary way he speaks to us is through his word.
- 4:52And twice in the last week, the Lord has brought me back to
- 4:55Psalm 119 because he clearly has something that he wants to teach
- 4:58me in it. And I even though I've been
- 5:00dragging my feet, it was just a clear reminder this morning of
- 5:03the kindness of God, but also the discipline of God.
- 5:07Yeah, I love it because the discipline is good.
- 5:10It's for our good, but it's coming from a good father.
- 5:14So we can trust in that and know that he has a plan.
- 5:18He wants to show us or there's a purpose behind it or you know,
- 5:23and it may not just be for us necessarily, it's for others who
- 5:27need to hear the message like the, the, the, the discipline of
- 5:32going through Psalm 119 on your podcast, which by the way, is
- 5:36called hearing Jesus. For those of you that are
- 5:38interested in tuning into that. And I love it because he knows
- 5:46exactly who's going to hit play on that episode or that series
- 5:50that you're doing that need to hear about Psalm 119.
- 5:54Let's dive into this message that you are going to be sharing
- 5:59with us. So first, like for you just to
- 6:02share a little bit of your back story and really what inspired
- 6:06you to write this devotional hearing Jesus and, and if it's
- 6:11attached or if it has anything to do with beginning your
- 6:15podcast. Well, actually, I think the
- 6:18origins of this book started probably when I was about 15
- 6:22years old, where as I was coming to faith and learning about who
- 6:26God was and understanding who he was in my life.
- 6:31You know, I didn't get saved until 15.
- 6:33And and prior to that, I had lived through a lot of really
- 6:37difficult things. And so there was addiction and
- 6:39poverty and abuse and all sorts of mess and brokenness in my
- 6:43life. And I think in some ways I may
- 6:46have just felt, even if I didn't say this out loud, I may have
- 6:49just felt like maybe God wasn't there those first 15 years of my
- 6:52life because it took me until age 15 to come to faith and to
- 6:56believe in him. So maybe just prior to that, he
- 6:59wasn't there. And it's in some ways it made it
- 7:02feel like it's, it made it easier to think about those
- 7:06things I had grown up experiencing because if God just
- 7:09wasn't there, then then maybe that was OK.
- 7:12And it wasn't actually until a couple years ago when I was in
- 7:15therapy actually with a Christian therapist.
- 7:17And she said, you know, it's not that God wasn't there.
- 7:20He was there and he grieved those things alongside of you.
- 7:23And when she said that, it was almost like a light bulb moment
- 7:27for me where I started to remember all these things that
- 7:30the Lord did and the way he actually was speaking my life.
- 7:33But it just took me a minute to recognize him.
- 7:36And so, you know, from a very young age, at the age of 15,
- 7:40when I got saved, I also felt the, the call the full time
- 7:42ministry at the same time, which I don't know how common that is,
- 7:47but I knew from from the moment I got saved that the Lord was
- 7:49also calling me to full time ministry.
- 7:52And while it took me some years to kind of learn what that voice
- 7:56actually sounded like, I now know that from the very
- 7:59beginning, he, he was calling my name.
- 8:02It was just a matter of not just hearing him on my end, but
- 8:06learning how to obey what he was actually saying.
- 8:08Yeah, absolutely. You know, there was a season in
- 8:11my life where I was really pursuing him and seeking out
- 8:15Lord. I want to hear your voice like
- 8:17all these other people that can, you know, hear from you and know
- 8:22what to do, have direction, have this wisdom.
- 8:25And, you know, really it was just constantly having my Bible
- 8:31open. Like you said, he speaks often
- 8:33through his word and, and, and just sitting quietly, you know,
- 8:38through my prayer and taking the time.
- 8:40I think that is definitely an issue with us.
- 8:43We kind of rushed through it like, OK, I'm done, you know,
- 8:46same what I want to say and praying.
- 8:48And then we kind of go on with our list that we have to do for
- 8:52the day. And so just having that, that
- 8:56self-control exercises to control and that discipline to
- 9:00sit and to just listen. And as I was doing that
- 9:05consistently, I started to to sense this pattern in my spirit
- 9:10of the familiar voice. And I often give this
- 9:14illustration, my son, my youngest one would get, I
- 9:20wouldn't say get lost in stores frequently, but I feel like out
- 9:24of all the other kids, we, we lost them briefly at Disneyland
- 9:29and then we lost them a little bit at Costco.
- 9:32So this is at Costco where we're like Brayden, Brayden, where are
- 9:37you? You know, and my husband always
- 9:39had this whistle that the kids would be familiar with.
- 9:44So my husband did the whistle, and then, I kid you not, within
- 9:49seconds he comes running. Meanwhile, we were, you know,
- 9:53yelling his name. Familiar voice here, but it was
- 9:56the whistle that made him respond.
- 10:00And right after that or shortly after that, we're driving home
- 10:04and I sensed the Holy Spirit telling me this is, this is how
- 10:10familiar you are to my voice. Like you, you respond to it
- 10:15quickly because you recognize it.
- 10:18And by recognizing it is, is just my son heard it over and
- 10:24over again. He knew it was a whistle to from
- 10:26his dad, from his father to get attention and to get his
- 10:31attention. And so this was such a sweet
- 10:35illustration that the Lord gave me that this is exactly how it
- 10:40is. It's like the sheep will know my
- 10:42voice because they know me. And so anyway, I had to share
- 10:46that bit because it was just so precious that the Lord gave me
- 10:51that understanding, standing and that insight I love.
- 10:53That And I think sometimes, you know, we might consciously
- 10:56think, OK, yeah, God is our father, but I think sometimes we
- 11:00forget that he's a good father. And part of knowing him and
- 11:04recognizing his voice comes through the context of
- 11:07relationship, of spending time with him, of reading his word.
- 11:11And when we read his word and we start to understand how he
- 11:14speaks, it helps us recognize his voice when he's speaking to
- 11:18our heart. You know, one of the things that
- 11:19I say in the book that I just always try to remind people of
- 11:23is that his voice will never contradict his word.
- 11:26And so when we learn his word and we learn his character and
- 11:29his nature, it's so similar to what you're describing with with
- 11:33your husband and your son. You know, I recognize my
- 11:37husband's voice because I spent a lot of time with him.
- 11:40I think sometimes we forget that it's very similar when it comes
- 11:43to our relationship with the Lord.
- 11:44Absolutely, 100%. OK.
- 11:47There was a time in your life that you share that was a little
- 11:50bit difficult to discern earn the Lord speaking to you rather
- 11:54than, you know, if it was out of emotions or insecurities.
- 11:59So what helped you really clarify that that that was the
- 12:03Lorde voice speaking to you? Well, you know, it really was
- 12:08the Lord himself. You know, there was a season of
- 12:10my life where I was on staff at a church and I remember sitting
- 12:14around a table with all my male counterparts and I was the
- 12:16children's pastor at the time and, and I had whatever the
- 12:20issue was. I don't ever really remember
- 12:22what the issue was, but I had a word from the Lord that the Lord
- 12:24had clearly spoken to me and I brought it up in this meeting
- 12:28and it was pretty quickly dismissed.
- 12:30And then probably like 20 minutes later, a male
- 12:33counterpart, he brought up the exact same thing almost
- 12:37verbatim, the same thing I had said.
- 12:39And he was taken seriously. And it was so confusing for me
- 12:43because I was in a church that obviously valued me as a leader.
- 12:47I was on staff. I was the children's pastor at
- 12:49the time, but not enough to to take what I was saying at face
- 12:54value in the moment as much as they did with my male
- 12:57counterpart. And I remember just really
- 12:59struggling with that and trying to reconcile that with, with
- 13:03what I knew from my leadership, what I knew from my own
- 13:05relationship with the Lord. And clearly, you know, what I
- 13:08had said was, you know, something they ended up
- 13:11listening to, even though it was delivered to somebody else.
- 13:13And so I obviously was on the right track.
- 13:15And I was in a worship service later that evening just kind of
- 13:19reconciling that with the Lord and, and struggling with it.
- 13:21And Lord said, you know, Rachel, you do hear me.
- 13:24And, and it was in that moment when He confirmed that in my
- 13:28spirit, which number 1, He was speaking that to me.
- 13:32So I'm so thankful that he did that.
- 13:34But #2 I recognized that, you know, I had to get to a place
- 13:38where my relationship with him meant more than the validation
- 13:43from even my male counterparts on staff at the church, or even
- 13:46more than my situation, or even more than what somebody else
- 13:50might say. Yeah, that's a valid word from
- 13:52the Lord. It had to get to a place where I
- 13:55was 100% confident in my relationship with the Lord, no
- 13:58matter what anybody else had to say.
- 14:01And so really what that did is it sent me on this path to lean
- 14:04in and to really get to a place where I was understanding what
- 14:09that actually meant. And you know, I, I probably like
- 14:12a lot of people, had gotten to a place of complacency in my
- 14:15relationship with the Lord. You know, I was on staff at the
- 14:17church. I was teaching the kids, I was
- 14:20preparing curriculum, I was preparing resources.
- 14:23But when it came time to my own relationship with the Lord, that
- 14:27kind of got on the back burner a lot of days.
- 14:30And you know, I wouldn't say that was intentional, but I
- 14:33didn't intentionally guard that time.
- 14:34So that's kind of where it ended up.
- 14:36And it was really a wake up call for me where I needed to
- 14:39reorient my schedule and really make him a priority, my time
- 14:44with him the priority, and then everything else spill out of
- 14:46that. And so for me, I think that was
- 14:48one of those moments where I had to kind of flip the script and
- 14:52lean in to his word and start to really prioritize that and then
- 14:57let everything else kind of flow out from that, like I said.
- 15:00Yeah, give yourself a reset. I mean, that's so easy to do
- 15:03because you're doing good things for the Lord.
- 15:07And we can get so tied up in the doing and we forget about just
- 15:12being being in his presence, being with Him.
- 15:15So that's good that you recognize that.
- 15:19And that prevents us from burnout as well.
- 15:23So you grew up in a family that was impacted by poverty and
- 15:28addiction that you had shared. And how has this guided you and
- 15:33sharing your faith with others? How has that really helped you
- 15:38with being a witness for Jesus? Well, I think.
- 15:41One of the things that the Lord has revealed to me over time is
- 15:45that my relationship with him is not just there for the good
- 15:49moments. He's there for the broken
- 15:51moments as well. And I think as someone that has
- 15:53come from a lot of brokenness, I can recognize that and other
- 15:57people, and I hear from people all the time, whether it's, you
- 16:00know, through emails or from a show or in person.
- 16:04We live in a broken world, which means that there are broken
- 16:07people that are desperate for a real relationship with Him.
- 16:10And I think the, you know, sometimes relationship that a
- 16:17lot of people have that's like a Sunday only relationship with
- 16:21the Lord, it's just not cutting it anymore.
- 16:23You know, in the world that we live in with the constant
- 16:26barrage of stressful things on the news cycle or inflation or
- 16:31gas rates or, you know, family members making bad choices or
- 16:35all any number of things, we live in a world where it's
- 16:39evident that we are surrounded by brokenness and this side of
- 16:42heaven, it's going to continue to be that way.
- 16:45That's part of the reason why Jesus came.
- 16:47We need him. And so I think my primary goal
- 16:51is first selfishly is to know him, to really know who he is.
- 16:56And then beyond that, I want my children, I want my friends, I
- 17:00want my family, I want my listeners.
- 17:01I want your listeners to really know him.
- 17:04And so one of the, the ways that that the Lord has helped me to
- 17:08do that is through writing resources like this devotional,
- 17:12because I too, like you, I would read devotionals in the past,
- 17:15yes, and I would get through them.
- 17:17And by the end of the day, I would forget what I had written
- 17:20or what I had read. Or even if I didn't forget, I
- 17:23didn't necessarily make the connection to what that meant
- 17:26for my life today. What, what would that have to do
- 17:29with how I was raising my kids or how I was loving my husband
- 17:33even though we were fighting or, you know, some sort of real
- 17:35world example. And So what I tried to really do
- 17:38in this devotional is to create a connection between what the
- 17:43scripture is saying, but our actual real life emotions and
- 17:46issues that we're facing today so that readers have something
- 17:50real to walk away from. Because that's the resource that
- 17:52I needed in some of those moments of brokenness.
- 17:55And, you know, as much as I love to sit down and dive into
- 17:59passage of Scripture and really meditate on it, and, you know,
- 18:01my listeners know and my readers and my other books know that I
- 18:04love to do that. There are sometimes moments
- 18:07where I don't have the capacity to do it.
- 18:09I don't have either the emotional capacity or the
- 18:11physical capacity to do it. And yet I still long for that
- 18:15connection with the Lord. And so this devotional, they're
- 18:18short, they're maybe 3 minutes. It takes you to read through
- 18:21them, but it gives you some real scripture.
- 18:23It gives you some real connection and gives you real
- 18:25prayer. And, you know, as a mom of
- 18:28three, there were moments where I'm raising babies and I have
- 18:32one on the hip and I've got I'm loading the dishwasher and
- 18:34trying to get dinner going. And the last thing, honestly,
- 18:37that I would have time to do would be to sit down and open my
- 18:40Bible and look at the original context of the Greek and the
- 18:43Hebrew. It just wasn't happening, you
- 18:45know? But if I can have this little
- 18:47resource that's tucked away in the laundry room or in the
- 18:49bathroom or even on the kitchen counter where just a couple
- 18:52minutes where a Mama can keep her baby on her hip and read
- 18:55through that. Or in the midst of a busy day,
- 18:57in between meetings at work, you can pull it out of your purse
- 19:00and read it for a couple minutes.
- 19:02It's something real and tangible that will help you connect with
- 19:05the Lord in a very real way. And that was really by intention
- 19:08and by design. I wanted to give people an
- 19:10opportunity to have those moments even in the midst of a
- 19:13really busy day. Yeah, that's so good.
- 19:16Yeah, 'cause we need the long, we need the, you know, medium
- 19:20length, and we need the short length.
- 19:22I mean, I think all three of those are good.
- 19:25And there were times I got up an hour before the baby's dead, you
- 19:28know, just to get my word in. And that was a sacrifice.
- 19:32I mean, you're still going through broken sleep.
- 19:35And but I knew what it it did for me when I did sacrifice that
- 19:41time, like the Lord supernaturally gave me energy,
- 19:44gave me strength. I felt like a better mom, a
- 19:47better wife during that day and I got involved in women's Bible
- 19:52studies at my local church. So that made me accountable to,
- 19:56you know, go through the homework or dissect these
- 20:00passages and really do a deep dive and study.
- 20:03There was another thing that you had mentioned the application.
- 20:07I am so about that. Like how?
- 20:10How can I? With this in my world, how can I
- 20:13place this in my daily life? Because I'm always like the how.
- 20:18And so many times we could read something, but it's not really
- 20:21sharing the how. How can I apply this to my life?
- 20:26I'm all about, you know, doing the word, not just hearing the
- 20:30word, but actually putting it into action.
- 20:33And so I love that you offer that as well.
- 20:38OK, transitioning and pivoting to your experience with a failed
- 20:44adoption. When I read this, my heart broke
- 20:48as I was reading this and I'm so sorry you had to go through
- 20:53that. Can you share with the listeners
- 20:56about that experience and how that really LED you to
- 21:01experience the voice of the Lord and got you into the global
- 21:08adoption care system? Yeah, so years ago, my husband
- 21:13and I, we suffered 3 miscarriages.
- 21:17And I also have three daughters. And you know, it wasn't ever
- 21:22medical or it was never told to me by a doctor.
- 21:25But in my mind, I just thought, well, maybe I can't carry boys
- 21:28because I have 3 beautiful, healthy pregnancies that
- 21:32resulted in girls. But then in between that I had
- 21:35these three miscarriages. And so I often would just say,
- 21:38look, I can't carry boys. And in the midst of that process
- 21:42and that season of my life, I again, I was in a worship
- 21:45service and the Lord spoke over me that I would have a son.
- 21:50And I kind of didn't know what to do with that at first, but I
- 21:53went home and I shared it with my husband and he said, well, if
- 21:56the Lord says we're going to have a son, we're going to start
- 21:59praying for our son. And you know, Long story short,
- 22:03through a mission trip later that year, one of the first
- 22:06trips I ever took to Africa, I met a little boy that the Lord
- 22:12birthed in my heart as as a child of my heart.
- 22:15And so we spent the next five years working to adopt him and
- 22:19bring him home. And then at the tail end of the
- 22:21process, I'm talking like our last court appearance before a
- 22:27judge. It was on a Friday afternoon at
- 22:294 O clock in the afternoon, our lawyer went to go pick up our
- 22:32little guy from the children's home and he was gone.
- 22:35And it turns out that he, along with a number of other children,
- 22:38were sold by the house mother because basically she knew that
- 22:43she couldn't get any more money out of the Americans and she
- 22:46sold the children. And so that started us on this
- 22:50very long process of working with the government to try to
- 22:55track down those kids and bring them back.
- 22:57And, you know, now at this point, our little guy is not in
- 23:02our home. He's actually in Germany, but he
- 23:05was of part of a larger trafficking ring that we were
- 23:09able to uncover with the government and stop and put a
- 23:12stop to. And, you know, there was a
- 23:16number of children that we were able to bring back and reunite
- 23:19them with their families. But there was a number of
- 23:21children that were, you know, because this whole process took
- 23:23years. If the children were pretty much
- 23:26trafficked for the reason of adoption, an easier route to
- 23:30adoption, then the embassy made the decision to leave those
- 23:35children in those homes. And they only brought the
- 23:38children back that were in dangerous situations.
- 23:41And so for us, you know, it was a season where step by step, we
- 23:46felt the Lord guiding, directing every moment of our lives.
- 23:50And yet the outcome did not look anything like what I thought the
- 23:55outcome was going to be. And I would be lying if I said
- 23:58that that didn't mess with my theology a little bit at the
- 24:00time. But at the same time, you know,
- 24:04being face down on the floor and weeping over this son of my
- 24:08heart, that by this point it was five years of relationship, I
- 24:14still was at a place where I believed the Lord at His word,
- 24:19even when it didn't make sense. I believe the Lord was who He
- 24:22said he was. I believe He is who He says He
- 24:25is. And even in moments where I
- 24:27don't understand, I had to consciously make the choice to
- 24:31still trust him. And I think it was the first
- 24:34time in my life where I had to do that, where what I was seeing
- 24:38in the physical didn't line up with what I was hearing in the
- 24:42spiritual. And I think there are a lot of
- 24:46people that go through hard seasons like that and it drives
- 24:48a wedge between their relationship with the Lord and
- 24:52and their heart. But for me, I remember just
- 24:55being weeping and saying, Lord, I don't understand, but I trust
- 24:58you. And I think that moment of
- 25:01vulnerability and honesty and trust really is what the Lord
- 25:04used to propel me into the next season of my life.
- 25:07And you know, Fast forward five years later, I was delivering a
- 25:11message to a group of pastors and our Ugandan counterpart said
- 25:20to me afterwards, you know, Rachel, there is not anyone
- 25:24within this organization that fights for these children that
- 25:27the way that you do. He said you fight for them like
- 25:29a mother. And it was in that moment that
- 25:32the Lord brought me back to this moment.
- 25:34I had been on my knees weeping over our son, and I realized
- 25:38that while the Lord certainly is not the author of pain, he
- 25:43certainly is the Redeemer of pain.
- 25:45And I recognized that there is an aspect of my heart that would
- 25:50not fight for kids on the other side of the world in the same
- 25:53way had I not gone through what I'd gone through.
- 25:56And there, you know, now is a whole new crop of over 8000
- 25:59children that I was creating policies for and I was working
- 26:03towards, of creating different kinds of spiritual programs for
- 26:07and training people for. And the impact that I was able
- 26:11to make because I was fighting for the kids from a place of
- 26:15really having that birth in my heart all those years before.
- 26:18It really helped me understand how the Lord works.
- 26:22And, and literally that scripture that says where the
- 26:24enemy meant it for evil, the Lord used it for good.
- 26:28And so I'm not going to lie and say that those years were easy.
- 26:31There were some of the hardest years I've ever lived.
- 26:34But now at this point in my life, I can look back and say
- 26:37that those were some of the moments where I truly did learn
- 26:39how to hear the voice of the Lord.
- 26:41Because of my desperate prayers, Because of the tear stained
- 26:45carpet on on my bedroom floor. Because of those moments of
- 26:49desperation where I was desperate for a word from the
- 26:53Lord, Because of the brokenness and the sorrow and the pain that
- 26:56I had walked through. And in those moments, He became
- 26:58very, very real to me. And while I I would never want
- 27:02to repeat some of those moments, I am thankful for the way he
- 27:04revealed himself to me in those seasons of my life.
- 27:07Wow, amazing. Thank you for sharing that.
- 27:11You know, and I'm even looking back of when that time was where
- 27:14I was really pressing in to want to hear him and that was a a
- 27:18dark season that I was going through.
- 27:20So there's that, there's that pattern where you're really
- 27:24desperately wanting to hear and how that is that trajectory or
- 27:29that springboard that gets you to really draw in close to Him.
- 27:35There are choices that create these obstacles that will keep
- 27:41us from fully experiencing His blessings.
- 27:46You share. How can we remove these
- 27:50barriers? Could you expand on that a
- 27:53little bit more? Well, I think we all have
- 27:55different barriers, and maybe even different barriers are
- 27:58different seasons of our lives. I think sin certainly can be a
- 28:02barrier to hearing God's voice, and I think obvious sin can be a
- 28:07barrier for sure. But I think sometimes even
- 28:10hidden sin that we may not be even willing to admit to
- 28:14ourselves can be a barrier. I think the noise of the world
- 28:19can be a barrier. So often we wake up in the
- 28:22morning and the first thing we do is we check our social media
- 28:25and pretty soon our hearts are distracted, whether it's from,
- 28:29you know, being influenced to buy the next latest greatest
- 28:32thing or with the news of the day or just cute cat videos,
- 28:37we're distracted. And now we've wasted 15 minutes
- 28:40that we could have been spending with the Lord.
- 28:42And so I think there are some practical things that we can do
- 28:45to to remove some of those barriers.
- 28:47But then, and I also think in a lot of ways, religion can be a
- 28:51barrier. You know, I know a lot of women
- 28:53who faithfully go to church every single Sunday and they
- 28:57might even attend mile study, but they're not regularly
- 29:00spending time with the Lord the rest of the week.
- 29:03And so whether that is spending time listening and and being in
- 29:07the presence and worshiping him, listening to some worship music
- 29:11or carving out some intentional time to just focus on what he
- 29:15has to say or even listening. I think we've all been guilty of
- 29:19doing the laundry list prayers where we tell all the the Lord
- 29:22of all the things that are burdening our heart, but we
- 29:24don't take the time to sit and just listen with him.
- 29:27And you know, there's those things can be barriers in a very
- 29:30real way. I think I don't in our lives can
- 29:33be barriers as a as a mom, I often spend those quiet moments
- 29:38that I have worrying about my kids instead of praying for my
- 29:42kids. You know, that's a discipline I
- 29:43have to be very careful of because the enemy wants to
- 29:47distract my heart and and help allow me to to meditate on worry
- 29:52instead of meditate on God's word.
- 29:53And so I think barriers can look different for for each of us in
- 29:57a in a different way depending on the season where life that
- 30:01we're in. But I think even and just
- 30:02recognizing that there are barriers and, and realizing that
- 30:07the Lord wants us to hear from him, the Lord created us to be
- 30:11in relationship with him to hear his voice.
- 30:13And I mean, it's why he's called the word.
- 30:15It's why we have the scriptures because he wants to speak to us.
- 30:19And so I think when we reframe our perspective on that and we
- 30:22shifted and we recognize so much of this is more about me than it
- 30:26is about him. So if he's silent, why is that?
- 30:29Is it because I'm not listening? Is it because I'm busy?
- 30:32Is it because there's sin in my life that I've left to go
- 30:35unchecked? You know what?
- 30:36What's in my heart that is keeping me from Him right now?
- 30:39And that's going to be a little bit different for everybody.
- 30:41And like I said, even in different seasons, that can look
- 30:43a little bit different. Yeah, that's so good.
- 30:46And I love that. You know, it's key of the
- 30:49recognizing because then we can just come into prayer and go God
- 30:53like cleanse me, show me, you know, convict my heart.
- 30:56And you know, the enemy, his primary way to get to us is
- 31:01deception. And he goes straight for the
- 31:04mind, you know, and that's where the that worry and fear comes
- 31:08in. And so if we are filling
- 31:11ourselves up with the opposite God's word to just, you know,
- 31:17defend and to attack what he's trying to throw at us, then
- 31:24it'll be easier to not buy into it and buy into that deception.
- 31:30And and, you know, and just coming to him and having the
- 31:34Lord point out those barriers for you.
- 31:37That's that's so good. OK, I actually I love to end
- 31:42every episode with a take away. Those that listen know the the
- 31:47pattern to the episodes and this take away is something for the
- 31:52listener to ponder on or take action in.
- 31:55Or maybe it's something you're currently offering.
- 31:58Well. I think if you were somebody
- 32:00that wants to grow in this area of learning how to listen for
- 32:04God's voice, one thing that I have on my website right now is
- 32:07a free five day contemplative prayer series.
- 32:11It's an audio series where I just walk you through some time
- 32:15where we meditate on some scripture and there's some
- 32:18prompts there to kind of get you into a place where the posture
- 32:22of your heart is listening. And I think for me, especially
- 32:26in the beginning when I'm trying to practice this discipline of
- 32:28listening, I have no problem praying.
- 32:31But as a busy talker, for me to sit quietly and listen was a
- 32:35struggle. And so I think that might be a
- 32:38good resource for people. You can find that on my website.
- 32:40But also just recognizing that the Lord wants to speak.
- 32:45You know, often when we feel like he's gone silent, it's an
- 32:48opportunity and an invitation to lean in.
- 32:51And you know, when, when you're with somebody, if you think
- 32:54about that, if you're with somebody and they start
- 32:57whispering and they kind of go quiet, it causes us to lean in
- 33:00to pay attention to what they're saying.
- 33:02I think often God does that with us as well.
- 33:04Well, thank you, Rachel for coming on here sharing your
- 33:07devotional with us, Hearing Jesus, 365 daily devotions for
- 33:12US women. I love it.
- 33:14Thanks so much for coming on here.
- 33:16Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for listening
- 33:20today, and I trust that God has encouraged you through this
- 33:24story. Did you know this podcast is on
- 33:26YouTube? Hop on there and subscribe and
- 33:29you can see a live recording of each episode.
- 33:33And For more information on this ministry and to access free
- 33:37downloads, please visit my website at jamieelizabeth.com.
- 33:42That's JAYME elizabeth.com. And let's connect beyond this
- 33:47podcast by going to my Instagram handle, Jamie Elizabeth.
- 33:51She speaks life or Facebook. Until next time, my friend, I
- 33:55hope God reveals himself through your own life story.