Answering the Still Small Voice Even in the Middle of the Night

The other night I was awoken by one of my main characters in my soon, I hope, to be published novel who complained that he wasn’t happy about the end of his character arc. He wanted to make sure there was no doubt about what happened. I’ve spent three and a half years developing and writing my characters, and this particular one is dear to me. Mind you, I am about to send this manuscript off to an agent and was doing one last review. No, no, the story’s done. I yawned. But I couldn’t go back to sleep and felt prompted to go to my office and write “his” thoughts. Knowing I was in a fog like state, I tried to carefully to print my notes so that I could read them in the morning instead of having to decipher my usual hieroglyphic style handwriting. Can any writers relate?

I returned to bed and was awakened a half hour later with more suggestions from my beloved character, which again required my getting up. It wasn’t just a couple of lines in one scene, but in several scenes. This continued several times, and I thought, why couldn’t he just blurb it out all at once so I can make the adjustments and have a restful sleep? So inconsiderate of my time, my dreams of a restful night’s sleep. But in the morning when I added all the suggestions, they were exactly right, and I thanked him for waking me up.

I wondered how many times does God try to get my attention? Do I spend enough time to hear the still small voice? We hurry about being preoccupied with so many important “things” that the real underlying issues can go unnoticed or even avoided. But God is persistent and invites us, leading us back to our journey in the light. He knows when we need help. That nudging, that voice can come, but it is always at the right moment. It may be in a dream or through a stranger we meet. Or there is a small voice that will not leave our minds. It can come in ways that are subtle or dramatic. And we have a choice. We can ignore these messages or we can choose to get up, listen and do something with them.

I found this lovely quote, “God sometimes whispers, so we can move closer to Him.”* When we hear a soft voice, we lean in. We forget all distractions and really pay attention. A whisper also indicates a secret just for us to hear. A secret message for only our ears. How special, how wonderful, even if we lose some sleep.

Have you listened to that still small voice even when inconvenienced? What happened? I hope it brought you joy.

*Happy Heart Daily Inspiration

#stillsmallvoice #inspirtation