The Voices We Carry: Finding Your One True Voice in a World of Clamor and Noise Paperback – May 5, 2020

What an author! I follow him on all social medias because of how encouraging, authentic, and thought provoking his writing is. The same goes for this book. It's a great read that helps the reader feel really connected to his life story. Everyone go follow J.S. Park if you aren't already!

I found J.S. Park's blog early in 2020 and was immediately struck by his strong faith and compassion for the suffering and the struggling. The Voices We Carry is written for the suffer and struggler in all of us. Park combines his experience as a hospital chaplain, sociological and psychological studies, and Scripture to create a rich examination of the external and internal influences, or "voices," with which we define ourselves.The Voices We Carry doesn't provide the usual self-help cliches like, "Ten Tips to Stop Doubting Yourself and Live Your Best Life!" Instead, Park opts to examine both the good and the bad in the voices we all carry. Here we find both empathy and accountability, and everything is handled with a personal touch. Park's perspective is unapologetically Christian, but non-Christians can certainly find worth and value in these pages.The Voices We Carry is divided into three sections. The first examines internal voices that praise and condemn the self and others. The second (and, in my opinion, the strongest and most beautifully written) tackles the external voices of guilt, trauma, family, and grief. Finally, Park proposes how one can develop one's own personal voice, born from all these internal and external influences. Park does not propose to solve his reader's problems, but to guide them in finding the good and bad in the voices that envelop them and construct something that will build up, not condemn.All in all, a read that was both helpful and enjoyable! The Voices We Carry provides an intriguing framework through which we view the voices that define ourselves, ultimately pointing us to the One Voice that ultimately matters. It's a lovely glimmer of light as we stumble imperfectly through our maze of voices.

I have followed JS Park on FB and IG for several years. I can’t even remember how I came across his page, but his thought provoking and empathetic way of expressing himself has helped me often have a different perspective. I went through a traumatic divorce and had a crisis of faith. JS Park has a way of bringing you back to what’s important. It isn’t the religious traditions we have, or the effort of trying to be a good Christian. It’s the relationship you maintain with yourself, with your family, with your friends, with strangers, and with God. If you’re true to God, and true to yourself, you’ll be true to everyone else, too.As a hospital Chaplain, Park hears stories from many people when they’re at their lowest point. This book uses some of these stories to talk about the voices we hear that can influence our behavior. Park challenges us to become aware of the voices that shape our lives and he coaches us how to befriend them and grow from them rather than shrink from them. These life-changing concepts about grief, loss, trauma, and relationship patterns are explained in an easy-to-understand way: through the author's touching personal stories and encounters with hospital patients.One of my favorite quotes: “God made you the way He made you because He wanted to say something through you that He can’t through anyone else.”J.S. Park has a gift in the way he uses words. You will come out of this book with a new understanding of yourself and others.

Do you hear voices? Don’t worry, according to J. S. Park, hospital chaplain, blogger and teaching pastor, this is perfectly normal. We all have both external and internal voices that are constantly speaking to us, and they have unimaginable power.The four internal voices are valuations. They rate others and ourselves and confer moral judgements. Exalting voices lead to pride and self-justification (when applied to ourselves) or people pleasing (when applied to others). Condemning voices can cause self-doubt and insecurity (with ourselves) or judgement and resentment (of others).The external voices are precipitated by events and situations outside of ourselves, things we can’t control. They are guilt (what I did), family dynamics (what I grew up with); trauma (what was done to me) and grief (what I lost).We can’t eliminate these voices, and they are not all bad. The challenge, according to Park, is to develop our own strong, internal voice composed of our non-negotiables and values. This gives us a reference point, and a way to evaluate all the other voices that come swooping in to confuse and distract. Park quotes a pastor friend who puts it like this:“God made you the way He made you because He wanted to say something through you that He can’t through anyone else.”In other words, finding your voice means finding the genuine you along with the story you want to tell, and then telling it well. It is the message and hope you want to speak into the world.Park relies upon stories from his experience as a chaplain and his own life to illustrate and illuminate his points. It requires some understanding of psychology and a self-reflective mind bent to appreciate fully.The Lutheran Ladies Connectio blog received a free copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

J.S. Park is so so so good at being honest about the hard things in life and making one feel less alone in them. Highly recommend reading both of his books.

Written from the heart - very deep - a must read for everyone who wants to have some new perspectives on life and God.

I've been following J.S. Park's blog for the longest time so I was so thrilled he published a book! He talks about 4 internal voices: self-exaltation, exalting others, self-condemnation and condemning others; and 4 external voices: pain from guilt, pain from family dynamics, loss from trauma and loss from grief. Each voice is broken down to very manageable pieces with analogies, real-life stories Park encountered as a chaplain and his own personal experiences. It truly opened my eyes to how these voices aren't as simple as they seem. This book doesn't read like a "how-to" book. It reads like having Park as a big brother walking alongside you, nodding and saying he sees and hears you. He goes deep into his own personal struggles and demons, and that level of vulnerability is unparalleled. I don't think I've read any other book that carries so much empathy. Highly recommend!