Decisions, decisions, decisions…Where should I go to college? What should choose for a major? What
should I do for a living? Who should I marry?...Big decisions!
How do we discern God’s will for our lives? How do we know
the future and make the absolute best decision possible?
Sometimes we wish God would audibly speak to us and tell us exactly
what to do. Sometimes we hope for God to reveal his will in a dream. Sometimes
we want to be able to fast forward to the future and then return to the present
to live our lives.
But, this is not how life typically works. We have to gather
the facts, consider our options, ask for advice, and pray. We have to watch out
for blind spots that may cause us to overlook dangers. We need to watch out for
wrong assumptions or powerful emotions that may misguide us.
Have you ever been paralyzed by a big decision? Have you
ever been overwhelmed with a decision that you could not act? I believe
this is because we want to know God’s exact will for us well into the future.
But, most of the time this is impossible to figure out, and we freeze.
Instead of focusing on the end, I suggest focusing on the
next step. What do I have faith to do as a next step?
If you are junior in high school, you are looking ahead to
your senior year and life after high school. You probably have college in your
future. Deciding what college to attend is a huge decision, but if you just
look for faith for the next step, it is not so bad.
Do you have faith to check out a few colleges online? Do you
have faith to tour a few colleges this summer with your family? When you identify
your top 2 or 3 colleges, do you have faith to visit on a student preview
weekend? Do you have faith to apply to a college?
Before you know it, you have a lot more data, and you are
much closer to making your final decision. Instead of knowing God’s will
completely all at once, you trust him to guide you as you take each step along
the way. It requires daily surrender to God’s will and plan, and it involves taking
daily steps of faith.
No, this is not a magic remedy that makes all huge decisions
easy. But, it is a dependent mindset that helps us lean on God and not our own
understanding, and it helps us exercise faith and build more faith as we trust
God all along the way.
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