God has been speaking with me since I was a child. I knew it was God. I knew the voice from hearing the Holy Spirit reading Psalms to me at a very young age. Still, I let religious people convince me that they spoke for God. Some even convinced me (for a little while) that if I went anywhere but to them I was not in God’s will. When I walked away from religion, in my flesh I had the feeling that I walked away from God. It took me a while to realize that God pursued me. God still spoke with me. I could still go and reason with the Lord.

God speaking with you and guiding you does not mean you will not have tribulations and troubles. Some trials may even catch you off guard and sideline you for years. Still, God pursues and the Spirit teaches. If you pay attention to the teachings, you might learn compassion for other travelers in life. If you learn from your life’s journey, maybe you will not judge others and let God work with them. We cannot judge anyone by the trials they go through. Our Savior asks us to love one another. I do not read about an exclusion for the times of trials.

Trials took me places I did not want to go and I did things I swore I would never do. How can I judge where a trial will take you? No matter the road I was on or where I thought it was leading me, God in Christ was there calling me out of my own reasoning and out of the trial. Looking back, He has always been with me. I might have let the trial take my eyes off Him, but He was still there. The moment I looked back, I saw Him.

Some say that is not Biblical or scriptural, but it certainly is. Jesus suffered even though He never took His eyes off the Father. King David suffered and God continued with him. King David’s eyes turned and foot slipped. Everyone has fallen short. God persists. God sent us a Savior to save us from the dark spirits that pull our attention away. God sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide us. God gave us mercy and grace, so we could commune with God in Christ and enter the Holy of Holies as needed. We have continual access to the throne of grace where we obtain mercy and find grace.

The difference between the voice of God and the voice of religion is grace and mercy. The focus is on God and the finished works of God in Christ and not on my sin nor myself. God talks to me about the direction I should go and the supply of living water. If I say I am not worthy, God tells me Christ Jesus assigned my worth. Jesus tells me He knows my life up to now and God is still giving me living water. My history is Him in Me. My life is now His life abundantly in me. As long as I am with Him, I may have joy in overcoming knowing that in this world there will be troubles and tribulations.