{"id":17911,"date":"2024-03-22T09:31:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T09:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=17911"},"modified":"2024-03-25T08:18:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T08:18:09","slug":"discovering-gods-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/discovering-gods-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering God’s Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

10 March 2024 | Zagreb, Croatia [Svjetlana Veble with tedNEWS]<\/p>\n

For the past five years, always in early spring, the Adriatic Union Conference (AUC) Women’s Ministries leadership has organised an event for women to be encouraged and empowered to discover new ways of serving the church and supporting our families and friends.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, 10 March, in the vibrant city of Zagreb, Croatia, a gathering of over 130 women from Croatia and Slovenia convened eagerly for a series of workshops led by Vanesa Pizzuto, the Associate Communication and Media Director of the Trans-European Division (TED). Pizzuto’s focus was on the crucial role of emotional intelligence in discerning the voice of God.<\/p>\n

\"Vanesa<\/a>
Vanesa Pizzuto, accompanied by translator Ana Ivankovi\u0107 (left in the picture), shares insights on discerning between the voice of God and the voice of the inner critic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“We Christians believe that God speaks. But how do we know if the voice we are hearing is really<\/em> God\u2019s?\u201d Pizzuto asked. Highlighting that, like fingerprints, voices are unique, Pizzuto shared a series of emotional intelligence principles that empower Christians to distinguish God\u2019s voice from a myriad of noises and other voices.<\/p>\n

One particularly resonant principle was learning to differentiate between the voice of God and the inner critic. \u201cWhen we say we hear God, we normally refer to an inspired thought. These thoughts sound like us; they have our voice because it would be really scary to hear somebody else inside our heads!\u201d Pizzuto shared. However, because many have internalised a harsh inner dialogue, \u201cwe can get confused and believe that this accusing, bullying voice is God\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pizzuto explained that any message that is rooted in fear or intimidation, or that makes a person doubt their identity as a beloved child of God, is not from Him. \u201cGod is not a bully. When He points out areas of development, He does it constructively and specifically (\u2018This was wrong\u2019) rather than using demeaning generalisations (\u2018You are a disaster\u2019),\u201d Pizzuto shared. Inviting the women to heed Jesus’ advice in Matthew 7:15\u201320 and discern a tree by its fruits, she affirmed, \u201cGod’s voice heals and draws you closer to Him, whereas the voice of the inner critic drives you away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Women's<\/a>
The gathering of the Adriatic Union Conference Women’s Ministries at Zagreb Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pizzuto\u2019s presentation included other tips such as managing a variety of emotions when hearing God\u2019s voice, dealing with risk and mistakes, and how corroborating messages using the Bible and a community of mature believers. These insights were warmly received by the attendees. \u201cThis is exactly what I needed to hear,\u201d remarked one participant. Another added, \u201cIt gave me so much to think about; I feel so encouraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to express my thanks to the small but strong team of women who organised the weekend events,\u201d said Svjetlana Veble, AUC Secretary and Women\u2019s Ministry Director. \u201cSpecial thanks to Svetlana for her exceptional musical contribution, and to Ana Ivankovi\u0107, Kristina Laco, and Ana D\u017euver for their invaluable translation work. To all the wonderful women who collaborated to make this ministry weekend truly unforgettable, let our praise and thanks be to God for this inspiring experience!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

[Photos:\u00a0Rudolf Bladt\u00a0Adventist Media Exchange, CC BY 4].<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emotional intelligence tips from the Adriatic Union Conference women’s event<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":17937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1580,7,1577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-albania-croatia-slovenia","category-news","category-organisational-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17911"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17956,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17911\/revisions\/17956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}