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“To find our own voice, we must first wrestle with the voices inside our brains.”


A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus, (2014-02-25) from his book,  The Artisan Soul: Crafting Your Life into a Work of Art (p. 43). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.


There are so many voices in us clamoring for attention and control.

I have spent my morning at Starbucks reading two newspapers and spending time with my friends.  I sat there in my spot with my Dodgers’ hat on reading about how they lost last night and then talking with my friends about what happened.  That is a voice that is inside of me.  It is a voice that has been a part of me since I was a child and it is a voice that at some points has to be controlled.  I used to get so upset when they lost.  It would affect my mood but hopefully I have matured.

Now after I left Starbucks I walked about a mile to Peet’s Coffee & Tea where I pulled out my Kindle and did some reading preparing for sharing some thought on this Blog today.  I read and then pulled out my phone and ear phones and started my walk to home listening to Erwin McManus share from his new book and he was talking about this section on finding our voice.  It was very challenging and very inspiring and I was ready to write until I got home and opened up an email from my cable company telling me why they weren’t yet carrying the new Dodgers’ network and my inner voice changed from inspiration to frustration.  And a wrestling match of competing voices started inside of me.  But I realized what was happening so I went to my computer and found this quote and started writing.  There are so many voices within our brains clamoring for attention.

Erwin continues, “Some of those voices could hold us captive the rest of our lives. Some of those voices, if we choose to give them power over us, will make us become less and less as we listen to them more and more. Some voices inside will silence our souls and leave us without a language to express who we really are.”

Now I realize that the voice of the Dodgers’ has great sway over me and I have to keep it in its place and it does have its place.  But it doesn’t compare to the voice to share with you something that will make a difference in your life.  That is the voice that God has placed in me that controls me that fulfills me but there still is this wrestling match that goes inside of me.  And that voice needs to be cultivated and fed and nurtured and listen to. 

You and I were created by God with a unique voice that other voices strive to take captive and control.  The voice of the Dodgers is a voice that can take me captive and control me.  It has to be constantly wrestled with but it will never win as long and I keep God’s voice of who He created me to be at the forefront of my life.

So what are some of the voices you wrestle with?    
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