Is That You, God?

 Do you ever have those days when you struggle to hear God's voice, because all you can hear are other peoples voices in your head? It seems lately that I am hearing so many other peoples voices as to what I should or shouldn't be doing and I am hearing less of what God wants. This makes me very weary!
 The first two months of the year I found myself very content with life. Life was simple, not to busy and not to slow. I had many talks with God and life was just going along. Then March came and BOOM!!!! Life spun out of control. And my simple life has become my crazy life. What I have not quite figured out is how to have a crazy life and still be me and still have that close relationship with God. I went from really hearing His voice daily to wondering if it is His voice I hear or someone else's. Maybe I am the only one whoever gets this way, but somehow I doubt it.
 One thought that I have had is that I feel very judged by others. I often feel like when people ask you about your life and you tell them about it, that there first reaction is to tell you how you are doing it wrong. Ok, thanks, that is just exactly what I needed to hear! My life is going 100 miles an hour and now you want to tell me that I should be going 110. Thanks that is just exactly what I need! So often I feel like I cannot meet others expectations. This makes me very irritable and weepy. I recently had someone approach me and while this person was walking towards me I thought, " Lord, I am so tired and overwhelmed. If this person asks me to do something else I might flip a lid." Not a good attitude at all. This was a good wake up call for me. How awful is it that I would feel this way. Who have I become?
 Who I realize I have become is what I have allowed myself to become. I have allowed the expectations of others to make me who I am. I have gotten so caught up in the busyness of life, that I have stopped listening to God's voice and instead I am listening to the voices of everyone else. I Corinthians 7:19b-20 says, " But what matters is, the keeping of the commandments of God. Each man must remain in that condition in which he was called." What matters most is keeping God's commandments. So it doesn't matter if someone else thinks I should stay home and clean my house, or if I should be out visiting, or if I should be homeschooling my children, or if I should be doing more ministry, or whatever else it might be. What matters is God's commandments and staying where I am called. What sweet freedom that is. Let me tell you, I am weary. I am oh, so weary of trying to live the way that everyone else thinks I should.
 A very dear Aunt of mine came to visit me last weekend. She is one of the kindest, most loving people I know. She reminded me that I am not called to do whatever everyone around me thinks I should do. I am called to do what God wants. God doesn't want me to feel overwhelmed and distraught in life and if I do then there is a problem. The problem is not everyone around me. I know that they are all well intended people and many of them do not know or understand what is already on my plate. No, the problem is me. I have allowed these voices to dictate my actions. I have busied myself to the point that I have stopped hearing God's voice. All I can say is," I am sorry Lord, please forgive me and thank you for showing your grace once again so I could see this in myself."
 One more thought I would leave with you today. I think this lesson has also showed me how I myself so quickly pass judgement on someone else's life. I so quickly want to say that they are doing too much or not enough, without just loving them. Sometimes we just need to listen to people and let their voices be heard and keep our own voice quiet. My dear friend, today I challenge myself and also you to just listen to others and not put own two cents worth in unless they ask us for it. Instead of critiquing what they say, let us just show love and support to them. Maybe they do not have it all figured out yet, but neither do we!