How do you know what God sees as the best choice for the direction of your life?
I have heard others say, and I know I have said before, that it was very clear the direction God wanted them to go. I said it before when I was in the middle of a divorce and having to choose to move with my current employer or find another job to be able to stay in town with my son.
However, when there are multiple choices, many directions and they all seem to be good choices, how do you determine which is God's best choice? I know you pray about it. How do you keep your own thoughts, prejudices, greed, desires from weighing in and skewing a decision?
I have often wondered if God has specifically chosen a path for me in life. I have concluded that God knows what is best but He has given me the "right" to choose. I know me. I am convinced I don't always choose what God would see as the best choice. Does God change the plan when I go down a path other than the one He wished I had chosen?
Does anybody else ever wonder that?
How do you know the right path to take?
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3 comments:
I wonder this often. I believe God knows the path we are going to take. I heard recently that when God looks at our lives, he sees our whole lives, not just where we are right now. So he sees my future as well as my past and present. That was somehow comforting to me. To me, there might not be a "right" path to take. There might be a good path or a better path. Sometimes it's not always as easy as right or wrong. But I do know that whatever path we take, he will be right there with us. Now THAT is comforting!
Yea!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad your back!
You really made me think and read on this. Thanks! So many of us struggle with this on different levels. Your thoughts make me wonder what is happening in your life, but in my own I think I often have confused His having a certain path for me with His having a specific purpose. He has a clearly defined purpose- for us to bring glory to Him. But also I really do think there are times He has a very specific path He wants us to follow, because of how He intends to use us to accomplish His purposes, (Rom 9:17-21, Eph 1:11) and He aligns circumstances to guide us in that way, just as He did in others' lives in the Bible. Then there are times when I suspect I have become overfocused on the importance of a specific decision, and missed that He was working in a different manner in my life, and the specific decision really didn't hold importance like I thought it would have.
Praise God for Rom. 8:28. I depend on it in my ignorance! I think it is quoted so much that the significance of His promise is lost in the familiarity. My mistakes are never big enough to throw Him off track if I love Him and want Him to lead. He will always work any situation for good, meaning His will at work in me.
I just read Phil. 2:13. I came across this verse just since coming to Memorial, and it is powerful to me because it addresses just what you talk about. There is responsibility that I take in trying to weed out the junky flesh stuff that clouds my brain and my ability to listen and do what He asks of me. But as I clear more and more of that out, His Spirit moves in more and more -and He promises to work in me to make me want to do and able to do HIS will.
Ultimately, I think it is right to understand that God, in knowing the number of hairs on our head (I can't wait to ask Him why though?) would have a response and insight to offer in every decision and path we take, if we set our life goal to please Him. He makes the comparison between our parenting and His, and I think even on my lowest level, I might not have a specific purpose to accomplish in my children in each little decision they make, but I ultimately know what I want accomplished in them overall, and walking along with them through every decision they make, at their invitiation, gives me more opportunity to help them become that ultimate goal.
Oh good grief. If you are going to cause me to do all this deep thinking every time you write... maybe you better stick with once a week.
Just kidding. You are wonderful - and I love being led and challenged by Him working in you.
You can put a 20 word limit on my future comments. I'll adhere to it. :)
Thank you both for your comments. You are wonderful. It is very helpful for me to read your thoughts. Pray that I will always be focused on God's purpose in whatever I am doing.
Thank you for letting me see Him through you both!!
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