Perhaps It’s Not “Ironic!”
In you, Lord my God,
I put my trust ….
Show me your ways …. Guide me in your truth …
Psalm 25:1, 4-5 (NIV)
Life can get complicated! Sometimes even our spiritual GPS (God’s Positioning System) feels confusing. A recent messaging conversation with two friends reassured me God’s voice remains trustworthy. I hope you’ll read more ...
Ron encountered this country sign while searching for good photo opportunities.
One early morning a few days ago, I had messaging conversations with two different friends, one almost 30 years older than the other. Both struggle with complex life situations, and both expressed a measure of guilt about how they were dealing with their mixed bag of emotions. They wanted to trust God, but wondered how exactly it should look?
The younger man is trying to discern the next best steps professionally. The older woman is navigating a perplexing, painful interpersonal relationship with an adult child. My friends are highly responsible people of excellent character who desire to trust God.
What was especially interesting to me was that in our back-and-forth conversations, each used the word “ironic” to describe something I had said.
I’ve been on a journey of learning to hear God’s voice long enough that I don’t believe words like “ironic” or “coincidental” are part of Divine vocabulary. What seems “ironic” may be one of God’s ways of saying, “Hey, dear child, keep listening.”
Several years ago, when I became committed to learning to hear God’s voice more accurately, I was terrified of becoming weird or woefully wrong. My foremost conviction was that God would never tell me to do something I knew was completely contrary to Scripture. Many decisions, however, were more nuanced, and in those cases, I began using what I called “the rule of three.”
I still use that rule. When I feel like God may be leading me in a certain direction, I try to delay making a final decision until I receive three confirmations, which at one time, I may have considered “ironic.” Perhaps it comes through a sermon, a song, casual conversation, a book I’m reading, television news, a dream, or insight during nighttime musing. The confirmations always resonate—a sort of vibration in my soul—as truth.
Around the same time as the conversations with my two friends, I opened an email blessing I receive daily from a group of Dominican nuns located in Grand Rapids, Michigan (grdominicans.org). I don’t think the timing of this blessing was “ironic.”
May you know God with you when you are experiencing feelings of guilt [or fear or doubt]. May your sense of responsibility and accountability be coupled with the gift of discernment and truth. May the wisdom of God help you to distinguish between the places of authentic responsibility that bring you to growth and the places of toxic guilt that drain you of truth. May you claim all that is yours and let go of all that is not. May the God of Wisdom aid you in knowing the difference and bless you with Serenity. --Maxine Shonk, OP – January 15, 2026
Today, I leave this “sisterly” blessing with anyone reading this post who may be grappling with a decision—large or small. Please know that I am praying right now for you.
Blessings on your journey!
