Many of us have had times when we’ve wrestled with a decision about the right thing to do. Maybe we’ve also wondered how listening relates to prayer and how it can promote a better understanding of God that helps us with these decisions. I had an experience recently that taught me about listening for God’s direction.

It was 11 o’clock at night, and I was on a boat that was scheduled to depart five hours later for a six-hundred-mile sailing trip along the United States’ Eastern Seaboard from Maine to Virginia. I tried to sleep but was mentally and physically tossing and turning in the forward berth with a persistent, nagging intuition that I should not depart on this voyage. “How could I not depart?” I asked myself. “The expedition is tied to work that I will be doing for the next 12 months, and I have a crew member who has traveled all the way from Alaska to participate in this adventure. As captain of the vessel, how can I, in good conscience, tell him that I am canceling the trip?” My intuition was saying, “Don’t go,” and my sense of responsibility was saying, “I have to go.” 

I had a persistent, nagging intuition that I should not depart on this voyage.