Nicole T. Walters

  • About
    • Meet Nicole
    • Disclosure
  • Writing
  • Listen. Learn. Love.
  • Publications and Media
  • Books & Magazine
  • Contact
  • Home

Amanda Taylor 1

January 20, 2016 Listening to God:

How God is Teaching Me Acceptance. {Amanda Taylor}.

I'm delighted to share the first guest post of 2016 with you. It's a fitting first as it is this writer's first time guest posting as well. Please welcome writer, photographer, artist Amanda Taylor to A Voice in the Noise today.

I over think everything, and I do mean everything.

Last year I tried to come up with one word to try and meditate on, one word to lead me through the year and recenter me when needed. I would come up with a word that I thought God wanted me to have. Then I would over think it, second guess it and dismiss it. I would think to myself maybe it’s a word I want but not the word that God wants me to have.

I could never settle on a word. Feeling defeated I gave up and let it go. I stopped thinking about the word and what it could have meant for my year, how God could have spoken to me through that word.

This is year I have taken a new approach to it. I started early in December. As I anticipated the birth of Christ I started to ask God to show me a word that he wanted me to focus on. I started softly whispering to God that I was ready to hear what he wanted to tell me. This year I wasn’t going to try and come up with it on my own. I was going to wait however long it took to hear and feel a word that came from Him, not from me.

Shortly after Christmas I took a trip up to one of my favorite places to think, reflect, recenter. I wanted to hear God clearly. This monastery is so dear to my heart that I feel at peace as soon as I drive onto the grounds.

I sat and wrote some notes to myself, some things to remember this coming year and I thought more about my word and then I corrected myself - God’s word. It was God’s word I was asking for that would become mine over the coming year. But first I had to understand it was his word.

During vespers as the monks sang out the feelings rang through my soul and I quietly sang back. I took in all that God was trying to tell me and for once I wasn’t quick to second guess it or jump to conclusions.

I thought maybe, just maybe, he was pointing me in the direction he wished me to go so I asked louder for Him to please show me what it was he had for me. What word would propel me into the new year and closer to what he had in store for me?

It wasn’t until just a couple days later as I was getting up, still feeling heavy from sleep and groggy in my thoughts, that one word shouted out to me as clear as a bell. I could barely focus on pulling myself together and heading to the shower but one word was so clear it sparkled. Continue Reading

SUBSCRIBE
Want new blog posts slipped into your inbox? Subscribe and get the latest!
Featured On:
Fathom
CT Women
incourage
Everbloom
Red Letter Christians
Relevant Magazine
SheLoves Magazine: a global community of women who love
The Mudroom
Ready
Search this Site
Recent Posts
  • Freeing Myself {Part 2: Belonging}
  • Freeing Myself {Part 1: Awakening}
  • The Mathematics of Life
  • Disturb Us, O Lord
  • Courage and Grit: The Story of Rickshaw Girl
Recent Comments
  • Aida on Taking the Risk of Living My Own Life
  • Nicole T. Walters on Living as a Learner
  • Carlene Byron on Living as a Learner
  • Ashley Hales on Finding Holy in the Suburbs
  • Nicole T. Walters on Moving Toward a Life of Listening, Learning, and Loving
Archives
  • September 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
Recent Posts
  • Freeing Myself {Part 2: Belonging}
  • Freeing Myself {Part 1: Awakening}
  • The Mathematics of Life
  • Disturb Us, O Lord
  • Courage and Grit: The Story of Rickshaw Girl
  • Taking the Risk of Living My Own Life
2023 © Nicole T. Walters
Squirrel theme by SavvyThemes