Dear Readers,
As we slowly wrap up our theme on Dreams with a few performance videos by Maestro Alvaro Sanchez, we begin to launch a new set of stories with the topic: The Nudge That Moves Me.
You might be scratching your heads with this. What in the world is this nudge? And aren’t there a trillion things that nudge us to do something? Things as simple as hunger nudging us to eat, or curiosity nudging us to read a book?
Precisely.
And that is why we must write about this nudge.
The heart has so many in-roads, so many unseen and uneven motives, for our answers to be as simple as black and white. For example, we may find ourselves saying “yes” to a job because we earn money there, but is that all there is to it? Or we say “yes” to the romantic summons of one person and then “no” to another, giving the sweeping declaration: “His nose is too big!”—why? And why do some of us smile on a bad day? Why do some of us take twelve vacations a year with barely a cent left in our pockets? Why do we eat too many sweets when we know that our health will suffer?
Surely our answers reveal so much of ourselves and our values!
Much of our passion and direction in life is rooted in what we believe our core purpose is here on earth. The Nudge That Moves Me explores this, questions this, and allows us to ponder our motives.
And then, of course, there is that OTHER NUDGE— one that does not originate from ourselves but is close to us—in fact, inside of us–because we hear it in our hearts. This is the Holy Spirit’s voice.
His voice that says, “Stop. Go here instead.” Or “See that person? He needs my love…” The Holy Spirit is a living Being who speaks, sings, and whose heart dances with joy when we invite Him to move freely inside us.
For the next three months, we will feature stories where we see this Nudge moving people, taking them to places they’ve never been to, or allowing them to conquer personal mountains they never thought they’d conquer—only because they listened and obeyed the voice of the Lord. We will also have stories of people who challenged themselves to go the extra mile—in finances, in romance, and in their families because of the Nudge that moved them.
Are you ready to be nudged as you read these accounts?
In the coming weeks, One Voice Magazine will also open certain opportunities for you to involve yourselves with us. We hope you bend to the nudges of creativity—to be a storyteller and allow for your own voice to be heard.
Because really, your voice matters, too.
It is my prayer that you learn to love the voices that matter, especially that ONE VOICE that speaks truth, wisdom, and life. When You hear Him, don’t be afraid to say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.”
One with you in listening to His Voice,
Janina Marie Rivera
Photos from unsplash.com
Janina Marie Rivera is the author of the book, A Night Bird Sings of Blindness and Fear and has co-authored the devotional, Dawns, published by OMF Literature. She is a contributing poet in the books Joyful Light and Whitmanthology: on Loss and Grief by Various Authors. She is the Editor-in-Chief of One Voice Magazine.
