Enter by the Gate

Hard choices are inevitable. Whether they involve family or other relationships, a job, or your spiritual journey, some decisions aren't clear-cut or easy. The advice you seek (or that's thrust upon you by well-meaning friends) may leave you more unsure than ever. The adage "Let go, let God" is a nice notion but often not so satisfying in the midst of difficulty. If you've ever wondered whether your intuition, the advice you've received, or the direction from your church community truly reflected God's desire for you, you'll find solace in this insightful book, Enter by the Gate. Using the story of Jesus the Good Shepherd in John 10, Flora Slosson Wuellner explains how to listen for and discern God's way for your life. Along with exploring the rich meanings in the gospel story of the sheep and their shepherd, she suggests meditations to flex your discernment muscles. "Being guided by God does not guarantee we will have perfect families, perfect jobs, perfect health, with no problems or challenges," Wuellner writes. "But genuine guidance does mean we will experience basic fulfillment and renewal. Abundance will be present at our center." Without harshness or judgment, Wuellner lists the warning signs of false guidance. Being aware of these signs helps you to recognize misleading voices around and within. She explores communal pressure, powerful ideologies, mistaken or manipulative leaders, traditions and expectations, inner unhealed hurts, anger, need, zealousness, compulsive responsibility, and honest mistakes. As she says, "only in the spirit of Jesus Christ's own freedom do we help one another and ourselves to move into the adventure of the shining signs and through the authentic gate of guidance." If you struggle to know whether the voice you hear is God's, Enter by the Gate will bring you to greater clarity. The Shepherd comes for us forever, especially when we have wandered off the path.