God's voice isn't all that difficult to hear. In fact, you almost have to be closing your eyes and stopping your ears to miss it.

Isn't it remarkable what God can do without our help? Sometimes we think, My company needs me. My church needs me. My family needs me. Hey, God must need me, too. No, He doesn't. He can manage quite well without us, remarkable though it may seem. In fact, He prefers us to step aside and leave the striving to Him.

God not only moves in mysterious ways, He moves in mundane days.

Noise and crowds have a way of siphoning our energy and distracting our attention, making prayer an added chore rather than a comforting relief

She was amazed at how easily distracted she could be when praying.

A lot of people can relate to the feeling of JOMO - Joy of Missing Out.

She floated near but outside her own body, feeling vague and intense at the same time. Needing nothing. Being what there was.

Exactly the way old folks said: not when you call Him; not when you want Him; only when you need Him and right on time.

They were troublesome thoughts, but they wouldn't go away. Under the moon, on the ground, alone, with not even the sound of baying dogs to remind him that he was with other people, his self--the cocoon that was personality--gave way. He could barely see his own hand, and couldn't see his feet. He was only his breath, coming slower now, and his thoughts. The rest of him disappeared. So the thoughts came, unobstructed by other people, by things, even by the sight of himself.

I have been told that there are two human responses to the perception of chaos: naming and violence. . . There is, however, a third response to chaos, which I have not heard about, which is stillness. Such stillness can be passivity and dumbfoundedness; it can be paralytic fear. But it can also be art.

Lay em down, Sethe. Sword and shield. Down. Down. Both of em down. Down by the riverside. Sword and shield. Don't study war no more,. Lay all that mess down.

When we overcome emotional strongholds, we let go of our need to understand everything right now. We trust God to make a miracle out of what looks like a mess.