I have spent most/all my Christian life wondering how to figure out God's will for my life.
And now, I think I have found it.
Not what God's will for my life is, just how to find it.
It's simple: do
something.
Don't just lie in bed every day praying "God what do you want me to do
with my life?" Get out and do something you're passionate about, and
let God open and close doors to direct you.
Or as Jeff Harris of Campus Ambassadors says, "God can't steer a parked car."
Assuming your life is like a car, God can alter your "car's" direction
into the direction He wants if you're car is moving, even if it's
moving in the direction. But you're parked, it's kind of hard to steer.
I guess what I'm saying is, it's better to be doing the wrong thing than to be doing nothing at all.
I'm not referring to living in sin. Not by a long shot. Let's just get that one squared away.
But lets say God's will for me is for me to be a missionary in
Mongolia. That is not the direction I'm currently headed, to say the
least. I'm pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering. But God will
have an easier time directing me if I'm at least doing
something. I've
known people who claimed that they KNEW they were EXACTLY in the center
of God's will, who claimed that something was wrong if I didn't KNOW
that engineering was EXACTLY where God wanted me to be. Okay, so it was
mostly one person (no offense, if that's you reading this
).
That all sounds so nice and spiritual, but it isn't true. If I knew I
was EXACTLY in the center of God's will, there would be no reason to
seek it. And there have been times where I kept asking God what He
wanted me to do, and kept coming up with nothing.
One of those times was several years ago, after I graduated from high
school. I couldn't seem to get any profound words from the Lord, but I
knew that I personally wanted to go into engineering. So I decided to
do that, and told God that I was going to be doing this until I
received further notice. And so far, I
haven't gotten any.
Not only that, but God also orchestrated things about a year ago so
that I could get a pretty good job. A job which is currently providing a lot of job
experience, experience that will be valuable down the road.
Some might say that I did the wrong thing in making the decision myself
to go into engineering. There has been at least one person who hinted
as much one time (same person who KNEW he/she was in the center of
God's will. Again, no offense).
But as for me, I think I made the right choice. And I think that if
you're a Christian and you can't get any sense of what you should do
with your life, it doesn't mean something's wrong with your
relationship with God. It simply means that either you need to simply
continue in the same direction you're going, or else God is leaving the choice up to you.
On a slightly different note, I had a great weekend out at the coast with Campus Ambassadors, on a guys-only retreat this time. The girls went to Sun River I think.
We had like the most disastrous weekend ever. People kept spilling hot chocolate, I think we counted 4 spills on Friday night alone. Raccoons got into our garbage, crows got into our food, we went crabbing and only got one crab (thereby producing 10 more crabs back at camp) and I ate way way WAY to much licorice Friday night. And I paid for it the next morning.
If I can out-fart Brian M. in the morning, then folks I HAVE EATEN TOO MUCH LICORICE! Like you really needed to know that.
But the ultimate came when Jay was carrying a big jug or drum or whatever of grape koolaid. He thought the lid was screwed on, when in reality it was one those lids that you just push in.
He was carrying it by the lid.
He was walking toward me.
It was starting to go.
I immediately started fasting and praying. I didn't have time to yell. How I had time to fast and pray, I don't know. Just one of those miracles, I guess.
It dropped less than a foot in front of me. No joke. I don't know, maybe 4 or 5 gallons of grape koolaid.
And by some miracle, the liquid all sloshed in the other direction! I was thankful. Extremely thankful. I then stopped fasting and praying.
And with that, I'm out. Got school tomorrow.
Comments (8)
it's awesome you are going to CA! havent' seen you at school forever, it's almost like it seems like you are skipping out or something. good to hear you are still going there :) :)
I agree - do SOMETHING. *smiles*
And, uh, Matt - we really didn't need to know that. *suppressed grin*
Good post. I agree. When you refuse to move forward with what you do know, all that you do not know only paralyzes you. Keep moving. Rest stops (waiting periods) will be provided along the way though, so the journey will not be too tiresome. That doesn't mean the journey has stopped. Now you can resume with fresh vigor. GO!
Dan's Mom
p.s..... I was drawn to your site mostly because of the name, futureastronaut. my son has been passionate about space and astronauts ever since he was 4 years old. He is 11 now.