The Art of Listening Prayer - Part 2

I am in the midst of reviewing a book by Seth Barnes called "The Art of Listening Prayer". Today I am posting on what I have learned from doing Day 8-16 in the 30-day study. I am obviously not doing this every day of the week, but it is making a large impact none-the-less.
Seth covers such issues as starting a conversation with God, and listening skills. He also talks about different ways that God speaks to us, through the Bible, through impressions, through others, visions, etc. It really helped me explore what I believe about how God communicates. It challenged me to take God out of a few boxes I had put him in. Seth shares a real life story at the beginning of each "day" and it helps to make it all more practical.
Day 10 is about our thought life. Asking the Lord to exchange our thoughts for his thoughts. I am praying for God to help me dialogue with Him throughout the day rather than being trapped in my own self-dialogue I tend to live with all day. It is not even that I consider my own self-dialaogue negative - it just that it is mostly focused on myself and my agenda - I am looking forward to letting the Lord's thoughts become louder than my own.
Day 15 is about following through. He compares our conversing with God to learning to communicate with our parents.
"Look at what a complex task it is to learn to communicate with our parents:
First we learn to recognize their voices.
Then we learn their vocabulary.
Then we decipher their meaning.
Then we learn to speak words.
Then we learn to interact.
Then we learn to respect and obey.
Ultimately in our 20's and 30's we may learn to communicate with our parents on a mature level."
This really gave me grace to realize what a process it is to communicate and converse with God. I believe He has been teaching me his language, by revealing His heart to me. I am so thankful for His patience and His grace!