Listening hard .... hearing nothing

In my earlier post 'His Way' I said that I was trying to commit all my plans to the Lord.  I was trying lay my plans before Him and seek His blessing before proceeding.  However, what's meant to happen if I can't seem to hear His answer?  

I had asked God about proceeding with something I wanted to do.  I prayed and asked and prayed and read my bible but I couldn't seem to get a clear yes or no!  What are we meant to do in these circumstances?

I believe God hears our every prayer and that He answers.  But I was listening hard and hearing nothing.  I think in the end I was listening too hard, maybe I was trying to hear one particular answer, a yes in this case!  So I tried to relax and asked God to speak to me through His word instead as I ask Him every day when I read the bible.  He lead me to this:

The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to His church.

Eph 5: 22 The Message

I felt God was asking me to ask Dominic, my husband!  So I did and Dominic got me to consider again whether I really wanted and had time to do this and only then did I get an answer.

So the lesson or lessons to me in all this:

• Don't try very very hard to hear God speak, relax!  His answer will come.
• Be open to hearing an answer you weren't expecting.
• Be ready to hear God's answer from someone else.
• Accept a no! or a wait.

This is what came out in my art journal:

This was a page where I had scraped excess paint while doing previous pages so it started off with random bits of different paint.  I added stenciled dots and stamped circles and map and then the journaling.  I love how the rough paint reflects the noise in my head of too much thinking.

The answer was yes.