You Hear the Whisper?
I did my morning devotional by Elisabeth Bennett, with a few of you this morning and I just had to share it.
Have you ever heard that critical spirit within yourself telling you, that you’re “too hard on yourself,” “too rigid,” or “need to let things go.”
In every instance in which other people are expressing sentiments like these, they are recognizing your inner critic and calling out its abnormality. But none of those comments actually tell you what your inner critic is and what it’s doing to you.
Here is the thing, these are your own deep thoughts lashing out against you.
All of us hear different things. Maybe you have heard something like;
“I can’t believe you ate two cookies! You deserve to feel grossly fat.”
“You’re so stupid! No wonder no one trust you!”
“You should just stop trying until you learn to do things right!”
“That was so dumb! Why did you say that?”
Maybe your inner critic sounds like your dad when he was harsh and angry with you.
Maybe it sounds like the voice of your first-grade teacher who corrected you in front of everyone. Maybe it sounds like someone you know, or used to know, who has said unkind things to you.
No matter whose voice you have taken on to carry out critiques in your head, being aware of what you’re hearing and how it impacts you is the first step to making sure it doesn’t drown out what God might be trying to whisper to you! Amen?
Your inner critic might be loud, but it certainly doesn’t get the final say on who you are. Right?
So, no matter what your inner voice is screaming at you, you can rest assured that God’s voice is always kinder, gentler, and more compassionate than you’d expect. Amen?
1 Kings 19:11-12 NIV (11) The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. (12) After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
May this find you listening for the whisper from God over your inner critical spirit.
Have a blessed day
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