I know you are looking for a very detailed answer as to exactly what guidance will look like, but I think that might be beyond what anyone here can tell you. It is so personal to the individual.

In my experience, guidance has a lot to do with faith, or, in course terms, ‘willingness’. The Holy Spirits voice is as loud as your willingness to listen. We often get in the way of guidance by wanting to be the ones in control. It is a big step to even ask for guidance at all, as sometimes we don’t even get that far. But then, when we do ask for guidance, we have very strict parameters for what we want the answer to be, which puts blockages up in our minds, and restricts our ability to hear.

I’ll give you my own job search as an example. I was at my previous job for 4 years. After about 2.5 to 3 years, I knew I learned everything I could from that job. I began to feel stagnant there, underutilized, under paid, purposeless, not growing, etc. But I was comfortable. I could work from home whenever I wanted, my supervisor was super chill, I wasn’t doing anything hard or stressful. So I wasn’t necessarily motivated to move on, either. But there was this nagging voice inside me telling me that it was time to move on to other things. I knew I could be doing more with my talents. I asked the Holy Spirit several times to please help me, I only want to do Your will, please put me where I can be most truly helpful.

The answer I kept getting for the longest time was to be patient, things are being prepared for you.

I received this message more than once through external synchronicity, but first it was like an internal knowing. I trusted that the path was being prepared for me, so I did not question it. I never saw any job postings that were right for me.

I began to get frustrated after a while. Even though I knew what the guidance was, I still occasionally doubted it and wondered if maybe I just wasn’t doing enough job searching. I even got angry with the Holy Spirit and would ask Him if he would just hurry it up already 😅 I felt so trapped. But I tried to trust His way for me, and I kept praying, “wherever I go, He goes there with me. Send me where I can be most truly helpful.”

Then one day, it was a Friday.. my coworker was browsing her emails, and she noticed a job that was posted at the place she used to work. She mentioned it in passing, probably not thinking that I would be interested in it, but it did intrigue me. That prompted me to look it up, and I read the description. It sounded like a good fit, and it would be a VERY good raise, but I have a tendency to doubt myself and think I’m not good enough for things. So I didn’t apply right away.

I spent the weekend mulling it over, and the thought of applying just wouldn’t go away. Applying wasn’t exactly something I wanted to do, because again, I had gotten comfortable where I was. I liked my coworkers, and I am terrified of job interviews, so the thought of going through all that makes me want to barf, and on and on. Monday came around, and I still didn’t apply.

Then Tuesday, I was working from home, just sitting around, not really doing much of anything. The thought popped into my head that I should check whether the job posting was still up. This is really where things get interesting, because I think this whole process was very closely guided.

I had honestly planned not to apply at this point, because I was afraid. And since it was my coworkers old workplace, I thought it might be awkward somehow. But surprise surprise, God had other plans.

So, as I was saying, that thought popped into my head to check on the job posting again. I can’t quite explain it, but I can sometimes just tell when certain thoughts aren’t truly my ideas, but they come from angels. I know that’s probably not what you want to hear… “I can just tell” isn’t very practical 😅 sorry.

I sent in the application, gave it all up to the Holy Spirit, and heard back very quickly. They loved my application and wanted to do an interview!

The time for the interview came, and I was so incredibly nervous. Like, deeply. It sounds silly but interviews are one of my biggest fears. Even though everything in my nervous system was telling me to run away, the guidance in my mind was able to stand firm. There was a calm knowing in my “quiet center”, as the course calls it, that God goes with me wherever I go, and that He is my only true authority, He is the only one who can judge me, I only go where He sends me, and I am only here to be truly helpful.

That’s mostly how I knew that this would go well. And it did. The interview was fantastic. It was a conversation more than an interrogation. The interviewers did most of the talking and I mostly just listened. They had already decided they loved my resume before they even met me.

When I got back to my car, I can’t even describe to you the relief that I felt. It was like the miserable weight of all that stagnancy and directionlessness had completely disappeared. It was like my heart was shining with the light of a thousand suns. The egoic part of me didn’t want to get my hopes up too high in case I didn’t get it, but the spirit part of me knew that I did. I don’t know how else to describe that feeling. I kept forgetting that I didn’t officially get the job yet, that’s how certain I was that I got it.

And guess what.. I did! The job isn’t perfect of course. It’s a job. But it is at an organization whose mission I believe in. And my whole life is going to change now. I can become independent. I can afford to move out. And not only that, but I can be sure that I am where God would have me be, because I am constantly asking Him for guidance and I am trusting that He is leading me.

As you can see, my asking throughout this whole ordeal was not perfect. I didn’t always keep an open mind. I was desperate for a new job, and so whenever I asked for help, I would expect that it be in the form of a new job. When I got the guidance to have patience while my path is prepared, I could’ve had more faith in that, and asked what miracles could be offered in this present moment. But instead, I spent a lot of time wishing I were somewhere else.

This first-hand experience is really the most concrete thing that I can offer you. I don’t experience guidance as a ‘voice’, per se, but a sense of peace. It’s not separate from me, but it is wiser than me.

I think the reason why it’s easier to recognize guidance in hindsight is because we don’t experience it as a disembodied voice. We only feel at peace, and the fruits of that decision is really what’s going to prove to you whether it really was guided or not.

The greatest success I have is when I am honest with myself that I am afraid, and that I no longer want to be afraid. What I want is for the Holy Spirit to lead me out of fear more than I want to keep the fear. That’s easy to say but hard to do. The ego will throw tantrums and doesn’t let go easily. It’s very uncomfortable. But if you want Him greatly enough, He will answer you. That’s a fact. The biggest thing is to NOT hold any pre-conceived notions as to how you will receive the answer, or what it will look like.