"Are you a map reader, or a companion of God?" This is Jan Johnson's pointed question in her book, When the Soul Listens. She tells us that God did not create us to be map-readers; He created us to be His companions. Then she states: "He created us to have a love relationship with Him." "But how?" we ask. Jan answers that desiring a love relationship with God is a natural response to discovering how much we are loved by Him: "We love, because He first loved us."

And then what? "Scripture commands us to listen -- a deep heart-listening." But, just like the people in the time of Moses, most of us prefer to have someone tell us what God says -- "we prefer to listen to a speaker or preacher rather than sit in quiet and listen to God." It doesn't occur to us to ask, as Jan does, "Is there a living, breathing God at the door of my heart waiting for me to invite Him inside for a chat?"

She says, "The life that God asks from us is simple. It consists of loving God and paying attention to Him, and in so doing, we sense His mind and heart. ... This openness to God and the subsequent transformation of our heart brings a holiness, compassion, and courage that seemed unattainable before."

How do we "love God and pay attention to Him"? Jan tells us the way: By the simple ancient practice of contemplative prayer, or the prayer of silence. This way of praying is not offering us an "escape from the world" or a way to reach a lofty spiritual state. Rather, "It is a way to face the needs of the hungry soul through simply being with God. To sit in silence before God restores the soul."

"God gazes on us with love" our author declares, and then quotes Zephaniah: "The Lord your God ... will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

As we listen, what will we hear? "What we can expect to hear in the quiet of contemplative prayer are the words, 'I am with you.' I delight in you.' 'I see your faults and invite you to come to Me'."

Don't delay in ordering When the Soul Listens: Finding Rest and Direction in Contemplative Prayer by Jan Johnson -- retreat leader, spiritual director , and author of numerous books and Bible Studies -- speaking from her own experience.

192 pages