Am I listening?

I'm just a girl who wants to hear the voice of God. Not just hear His voice, but follow that up with obedience, but am I listening? I find so often that my prayer time is all about me and my needs and I seem to forget that it's a 2 sided conversation. I actually should be starting my prayers with "hi Friend, what's on Your heart today?" He would LOVE to share with us, but we have so many things on our plates and on our minds that the noise of our lives is drowning Him out. He is speaking to all of us, all the time. He's just waiting for us to be quiet long enough to hear Him. Thankful for His patience and persistence! I would have given up on me a LONG time ago! I find myself at church sometimes asking the Lord, "why isn't it me their prophesying over?", or "Lord, why didn't you give them a word for me?" And He's asking me, "why won't you stop and listen and I'll tell you Myself?!" Pastor Joel made this statement a while back that the Lord's first choice is always to tell you Himself. My goal is to make quiet time with the Lord a regular part of my day, but I don't want it to just be in that time that I hear Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to "Pray without ceasing." Obviously, the Lord didn't mean for us to be on our knees with folded hands 24/7. In my opinion, since prayer is a conversation, He meant for the lines of communication between you and Him to always be open. At any time I can utter in my spirit and He will hear. By the same token, anytime He speaks I should hear. Which leads me to the next question...do I know His voice? He doesn't usually speak in the megaphone "THIS IS GOD" voice. In fact, most of the time, it's gonna come in the form of your own voice. He plants a thought and I think, "that can't be the Lord, that's just me."Well, the truth is that's not me either, that's the devil! Oh yeah, he's planting thoughts too! Seeds of doubt. Seem confusing? If you spend enough time with your Friend, Jesus, you won't have to wonder, you'll know when He speaks. And by you, I mean me. :) It really is all about building that close intimate relationship with Him. That makes the obedience part of it so much easier. What wouldn't you do for the person that you love most in your life?