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In this blog post, we’ll talk about how sometimes we need to listen to that still, small voice we all hear that leads us to do things we really should do.
Our brain is phenomenal. It is made up of 10 billion neurons that gather and transmit signals of stimuli it receives from all external and internal sources to all areas of your body. I certainly don’t know nearly enough about the brain to talk in depth about it, but what I do know is that the brain is phenomenal and extensive. It is constantly working on figuring out solutions to our problems, trying to make our thoughts become reality, and working out issues in our lives to find a synthesis between anything conflicting. There are a lot of things that go goes on that we don't understand. We, as human beings, are complex beings too. We are made up of three sections of our humanity. There's our physical side, there's our mental/emotional side, and there's also our spiritual side. Many times in life we may neglect one of those particular sides, thinking that it's not as important as it is, if we even know it exists. I'm here to talk to you today about how important it is to nurture your spiritual side. Your brain takes in hundreds of thousands of stimuli each and every moment of our lives, and our spiritual side, if nurtured, can help us find peace in the midst of crazy schedules, hundreds of needs, horrible events in the world, and our own growing understanding of ourselves.
I was listening to a couple of YouTube videos about people's lives, and I saw a couple who talked about how the wife (before they even met) felt deep down inside that she needed to leave where she was and go to Phoenix, Arizona. It was after watching a movie that she heard that still, small voice inside of her say that she really needed to move to Phoenix, Arizona. She had no family there, she had no connections there, and no job there, but she really felt that she needed to go. Then after having moved there and been there for about three weeks, she said that one day she heard that still, small voice again tell her to walk very slowly, because she was going to meet someone. That someone turned out to be her present day husband. That story really spoke to me, because something very similar happened to me as well.
I remember when I was getting ready to move back home after having spent four years at Bennett College. I was graduating and I had applied to approximately five schools to go to graduate school back up northeast. I knew I was meant to go to graduate school, but to be quite honest, I was less than excited about going back to a situation that I had left purposefully four years earlier. One day in prayer I really believe that I heard that still, small voice saying, "Stay in Greensboro." I didn't understand it at the time, but I made the decision to stay in Greensboro even though I didn't have a school that I had applied to here. I immediately got a University of North Carolina at Greensboro application, filled it out, and submitted it for late registration, and was accepted. During this time I also met my ex-husband.
Periodically throughout my life I have been led by that still, small voice. I believe it's the Holy Spirit talking to you and leading you where you need to be. It's funny, that after I was separated from my husband, I frequently revisited that period in my life where I heard that still, small voice saying to stay in Greensboro. I know that if I had not stayed in Greensboro, I would never have met my ex-husband. At the very beginning, I began to question why I would be led to stay here in Greensboro and enter into a marriage that ended badly and wasn't all that great during either. But now after being divorced I realize how important that period of my life was, not only because I got a wonderful son out of it, but also because it afforded me an opportunity to grow, to get stronger, to learn things about life, and about myself that I don't believe I would have learned in the same way if I hadn't gone through what I went through. Some people would say that still, small voice was wrong, was leading me to something that turned out to be negative, and how could God do that. I don't understand all of why God does what he does. Some things just don't make much sense to my natural mind, but I have really come to believe that at the very end of the day, it always turns out for the best even if the best doesn't happen to me. There are some things in life that I believe we can learn from much better and much more poignantly if we're going through it in hard times as opposed to going through it in happy times. I have learned as I look back over my life to be exceptionally grateful for whatever I have gone through in my life whether pleasant or unpleasant, because it's made me the person that I am today. And through it all I have grown to truly like whom I have become, and what I have come to believe about life, God, and myself.
The other day I heard that still, small voice again. I was driving home after running some errands, and I was about to pass a Dollar General when I felt that still, small voice say, "Turn here, because there's something there you need." Even though I had nothing in particular I needed to get at the store, I decided to turn in. Shoot, it's a dollar store. There's always something you can find at a dollar store. So I turned in and went inside. I decided to look at some T-shirts, and got a replacement T-shirt that I needed (but could’ve waiting on) and walked up to the front of the store to the checkout counter.
Earlier that morning I was talking to my son before I took him to school and asked him how he was doing in his physics class and math class. He had struggled all last year in those classes, and I knew that these were classes that he had difficulty in. We tried a few possibilities: going to the tutor center on campus, talking to the teacher during office hours, possibly even talking to a classmate asking them to tutor him. None of which helped. Well, being that it was physics and calculus III, this year, I knew there was nothing I could personally do to help him. Hearing him tell me that he was still struggling, and I could see in his face that he was unhappy about that fact made me as a mother feel very inept and at a loss.
As I was at the front of the Dollar General waiting to check out, I overheard the woman who was paying for her items say to the cashier, "You know I'm a physics professor." Did I just hear her say what I think she said? Did she say physics professor? She could not have said physics professor; who gets in line at the dollar store behind a physics professor? While all those questions were going through my mind, she was getting her items and walking towards the door. I immediately felt a sense of urgency, and I jumped out of line and approached her. As we talked she immediately said under her breath, "This is God." She told me that she didn't even know why she was at that store. She hadn't planned to go there. I told her I wasn't supposed to be there either! We both agreed that it must have been a divine appointment that we were there to have. She was a physics professor at Winston Salem University. She told me that she was a North Carolina A&T State University alum (my son is in their early college), and she probably knew his professors. After I asked her if she tutored, she said that she did sometimes and she would be happy to tutor my son for me. I have never gone wrong listening to that still, small voice inside of me.
I believe we all have that voice that tells us what we should do and though many times it says things we don't understand with our natural mind or what we do understand and just don't want to do, I believe it's the Holy Spirit telling us what we should do. I think we hear it when we know we're not eating the right way, we're not exercising like we should, feeling we should read more, we should slow down and take our time, we should get ready earlier so that we're not rushing, we should forgive someone that's really hurt us, etc... What are some things that you have heard in that still, small voice that you have ignored or put off? It may be, that it's time to listen… (Just as long as you’re not hearing voices telling you to harm someone… just sayin’ :))
Find Balance
You are a 3-part being, and you have to nurture each part of you in order to remain whole and well-balanced in life.
Think about things you can do for yourself to thrive physically. Try taking a short 30 minute walk each day after you get home from work, add a salad to your lunch or dinner each day, or try to replace a carbonated beverage with a glass of water each day.
Think about things you can do for yourself to thrive emotionally or mentally. Try reading a self-help book, say no to something that you know will steal your time and peace, or start a journal and write in it everyday before you go to bed.
Think about things you can do for yourself to thrive spiritually. Be aware of something nice you can do for someone else, pray about forgiving that person who has mistreated or hurt you, read an uplifting scripture each morning before you leave the house.
These are by no means things I am telling you have to do; they are merely suggestions to get your mind working about some things that might be right for you. Work each day to grow and become the best you that you can be; there is no one like you in the world. You deserve to feel good about yourself!
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