Even a pious person is not immune to spiritual sickness if he does not have a wise guide — either a living person or a spiritual writer. This sickness is spiritual delusion, imagining oneself to be near to God and to the realm of the divine and supernatural. Even zealous ascetics in monasteries are sometimes subject to this delusion, but of course, laymen who are zealous in external struggles (podvigi) undergo it much more frequently. Surpassing their acquaintances in struggles of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace. In every event of their lives, they see special intentional directions from God or their guardian angel. And then they start imagining that they are God’s elect, and often try to foretell the future. The Holy Fathers armed themselves against nothing so fiercely as against this sickness — prelest.
Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky
How does one guard against this delusion ? If one does not have a spiritual director, one is prone to this and can go off the right path so easily and end up doing their own will instead of Gods will.
Anne,
Your quite right that a spiritual director or your confessor can help you here but also remember that God does not bring you inner turmoil — only peace. Conflict, anger, severe anxiety, promptings that go against the teachings of the Church can all be easily dismissed as not coming from God. Being totally honest about yourself is always difficult. Only with patient prayer can we often arrive at the proper conclusion — and even then we cannot be 100% certain. In the end we are all dependent on the grace and mercy of God. If you persist in your Lectio God will bring you to the right conclusions so be patient