Thanks Johnco for your advise. Yes, this question requires some personal insight and more information to fully answer that a process from s.d. would bring to light. I’m in a very rural area, a small parish with only one overworked priest who is my confessor, but choose’s to stay on the practical side of spirituality rather then anything mystical. My s.d. in another parish has moved deeper in to the city to a different parish putting him out of reach for me. Honestly, I’m burnt out on books, " a cook a book doesn’t make" and prefer to interact with a person with experience in a question/answer setting to reveal the genuine intentions of both I and the director, which I lack now. So I was just testing the waters to some possible general discernment practice’s in something like this. There are some very insightful folks on here who tend to give a new angle of perspective in diffcult questions so I thought I’d give it a try. Thank you, Timdear tim,
questions like this need the help of a competent spiritual director or confessor.
you also may want to try fr. dubay,s book " seeking spiritual direction "
God bless,
johnco
Hi Teelynn, Sometimes I just have a talk with the Lord and I get an answer back. Not sure if it is just my imagination or what. It’s not very often, but enough to wonder if I should continue to converse or if I’m just entertaining a want. It is usually a question/ answer, short in duration and not breaking with sound doctrine as it is personal questions that my conscience could be the source of the answers to. Thanks for the pointers though, TimTim,
Johnco has a good point. It depends also on what kind of conversations or what the inner voice is saying to you. (or to whoever) Is it theologically sound? After prayerful reflection? I have these a lot. Sometimes I will hear a voice and after thinking about it decide; Nope, throw that one out the window. Know what I mean? Almost like I am being guided away from it. I personally don’t have a spiritual director but would love to find one. With the shortage of priests in my area it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Someone with sound doctrine to help would be great.
TOP, Shalom! I frequently have that “inner voice” (at least, more frequently than the people around me admit to). To me, I know when the voice is from G_D when it comes “from my core” – the “voice” just comes from my core being and not from some external source. The last time I remember it happening was a few years ago, when I was climbing the stairs at work, and my “inner voice” suddenly told me to tie my shoes. So, I stopped on the stairway and started retying my shoes. While I was doing that, two people passed me, a manager and a new hire. The new hire had an accent like my wife’s, and it turned out that her parents knew my in-laws. If I hadn’t listened to that inner voice, I would have missed on this friendship.Hello, Most of you have heard the joke “it is ok to talk to yourself as long as you don’t answer back”. But what if you are able to converse with a inner voice? How do you discern, a: your a crackpot, b: you have a strong conscience, c: it’s the Lord or d: it’s something other? Any ideas how to discern or what this may be would be helpful. Thanks, Tim
My wife says God talks to her sometimes and then I give her that wierd look, but hey what do I know, She said God told her I was the one she would marry. I believe that to have a good intuition is to have a deep prayer life, a confessor and or spiritual director, go to mass often- make use of the sacriments. Sometimes my thinking gets me in trouble but I learn from my mistakes and if I start thinking that God wants me to move to Cancun Mexico I talk it over with my wife, my spiritual director and leave room for dicerning. Usually when I think God is telling me something and I act on impuls is when I get myself in trouble. Thats my experience anyways.Hello, Most of you have heard the joke “it is ok to talk to yourself as long as you don’t answer back”. But what if you are able to converse with a inner voice? How do you discern, a: your a crackpot, b: you have a strong conscience, c: it’s the Lord or d: it’s something other? Any ideas how to discern or what this may be would be helpful. Thanks, Tim