So often it is our narrow focus that limits us, she is saying. When we look only at our own plans, we miss the infinite possibilities of a greater plan.

Well, that's one of the paradoxes of life. You can't have it all. You can have some of this or some of that or all of this and none of that. We make trade-offs we think are best at the time.

Sometimes God puts a new path under your feet, not because you think you're ready to walk it, but because He knows that's the way you need to go.

A constant awareness of his superiority keeps things in perspective and, frankly, takes the pressure off. If God is in charge, I don't have to be—and neither do you. What a relief! So let your fear turn to wonder. And let your wonder turn to faith, as you believe in the One who saves you from yourself.

Is our problem also. So seldom do we learn from past mistakes. We fail to trust God, we get into trouble, and we miss what the mistake has to teach us. We all have compulsive, repetitive patterns that get us into the same old problems again and again. The Lord wants to change that. We can overcome the past, not repeat it. December 12 Heresickness Job 36:1-33 Elihu continued and said, "Wait for me a little, and I will show you that there is yet more to be said in God's behalf.

Why precisely this or that one is placed in circumstances which lead to saving faith, while others are not so placed, is indeed, a mystery. We cannot explain the workings of Providence; but we do know that the Judge of all the earth shall do right, and that when we attain to perfect knowledge we shall see that He has sufficient reasons for all His acts.

Hearing God is not all that difficult. If we know the Lord, we have already heard His voice - after all it was the inner leading that brought us to Him in the first place. But we can hear His voice and still miss His best if we don't keep on listening. After the what of guidance comes the when and how." (11)

We followed the Three Steps to Hearing God that I had first learned from Joy Dawson in New Zealand. First, we took Christ's authority to silence the enemy. Second, we asked the Lord to clear from our minds any presumptions and preconceived ideas. Third, we waited…believing He would speak in the way and in the time that He chose.

The Lord will lead us into victory, but success itself is the most dangerous obstacle to properly hearing the voice of God.

From the very first country I visited, I knew I was not on this trip just for sightseeing. I did enjoy all the new experiences, but I had a strange certainty that I was being guided toward something I could not yet see.

This is what hearing God is all about, isn't it, Loren? Getting to know Him better.

If we know the Lord, we have already heard His voice--after all, it was the inner leading that brought us to Him in the first place. But we can hear His voice once and still miss His best if we don't keep on listening.