Thank you everyone for your responses. I really had something I wanted to say for each one, but that would be a super long post now.
I have been thinking lately about something similar to what sidney mentioned. The Holy Spirit can be so subtle. It's like Elijah and the still small voice. There will be a cacophony of noise swirling around us--from with out and from within--but the Holy Spirit is that constant still small voice throughout. We hear Him, but we overlook Him. We see what He shows us, but we go for the flashier and more obvious. It is easy to override the voice of the spirit with our own will.
I've just been seeing how the truth is
always there. God is
always leading. We have to quiet ourselves and clear ourselves out to be able to recognize it for what it is.
I've encountered this issue most often when there is apparent contradiction or confusion. A person (or situation or relationship) will have so much of a good thing, and then something that is clearly anti-God. In situations like those, we can often choose to believe the best because that's what we want, but the bad was plainly before us. And then when the bad fruit manifests itself down the road, we can think back and say, "Yeah, I saw that bad seed in that person (or situation) plain as day...I just chose to overlook it or rationalize it away."
This came up not just thinking about my life, but also in hearing of someone who has gone through something so hard, and I just had my jaw on the ground because it seemed like they had done
everything perfectly, just as God had required. But you know, they ended up admitting that every now and again they would have a thought that something wasn't right, that they needed to go in a different direction...but they ultimately overlooked those thoughts instead of stopping. But they were such subtle, passing thoughts. I think such moments of clarity are often the voice of God.
(ETA: I'm not saying the person sinned, only that God was speaking in order to help them avoid the situation.)
I've also learned that a lack of patience can really hinder one's ability to discern how God is leading. When impatience is in the picture, we aren't really open to what God has to say, because we are too focused on something happening when and how we want it to happen. Letting go of impatience, for me, has resulted in a much greater ability to continually sense the Spirit's flow and go with it. I hadn't realized how much impatience was hindering that.
ETA: I really appreciate what @
Laela said about God working everything for the good. Knowing that brings peace because even if we recognize that we erred, we know that He has still taken us to a better place through it. I can honestly say that is true in my own life.
