hearing voices, or it just so happens

i have been listening to lots of voices lately. and i've had a song stuck in my head.

(these two things will come together--i promise--if you'll stick with me for a minute. have i ever failed to deliver on these promises?)

i have found myself seeking the right voice to speak into a specific situation in my life recently. two roads are diverging in a wood, so to speak, and i...well, i keep thinking if i can just talk to the right person about it--someone familiar with the metaphorical roads, someone who has been in the same metaphorical wood, someone who knows me and knows what's best for me (in a decidedly non-metaphorical way)--i'll be able to figure out which road to take. it's a delicate thing, and not something i can share in a lot of detail right now. but suffice it to say, it's been weighing on me. there are so many good people to ask, so many good voices to seek, so many wise pieces of advice to be gleaned! and inasmuch as i have been able to, i just keep looking for the right voice.

i spent this morning with a friend whom i trust implicitly to speak into my life. i poured my story out to her, asking her for something, i don't know what: advice? support? wisdom? i wasn't sure. what i knew she'd give me was love and prayer.

it just so happened (if you believe that things just so happen) that we were walking in the woods as i told her my story. and it just so happened that we had taken some time to sit down on a bridge over a little creek. and as she prayed for me, she prayed that Jesus would take my hand in this process as i make these decisions. it just so happened.

as for the song that's been stuck in my head, that was trickling through my thoughts even as i listened to the creek trickling underneath us as she prayed (which was, by the way, not in her head at all, as she'd never even heard it, which i know because of course i asked her later)--well, i can never seem to remember the words to the verses, so it's the chorus (in italics below) that has been the "coincidental" (if you believe things just so happen, of course) soundtrack to my weeks recently:

to the river i am going,
bringing sins i cannot bear.
come and cleanse me, come forgive me.
Lord, i need to meet you there.

in these waters healing mercy
flows with freedom from despair.
i am going to that river,
Lord, i need to meet you there.

precious Jesus, i am ready to surrender every care.
take my hand now, lead me closer,
Lord, i need to meet you there.

come and join us in the river.
come find life beyond compare.
He is calling, He is waiting.
Jesus longs to meet you there.

(listen here, if you're curious)

it just so happens sometimes. surrendering cares at the river with Jesus holding my hand sounds pretty good. i'm glad for the reminder of the Voice i ought to be seeking among all the others, the Wisdom i ought to be after. and i'm especially glad for the promise that He'll meet me there, wherever there happens to be.