Decisions, take two
More stuff to add to my list! Now all I need is a life-altering choice before me… (Nooooo! I was kidding!)
Favorite quote from today (#7): The faithless man asks, “What do I stand to lose if I do?” The faithful man asks, “What do I risk losing if I don’t?” May God grant us all the boldness to take those risks He’s appointing for us! Risks that have been qualified by answering all the other 9 questions, of course.
Neil kind of reminds me of the Dr. Phil question: So this is what you’re doing right now. How’s that working for ya? The greater risk is to do nothing! And from a believer’s perspective, my life is not my own – who would have been impacted if I had taken that step of faith?
I appreciate question #8 (I got busted yesterday for going out of order), about being sure to ask opinions of well-grounded folks, not just friends who will tell you what you want to hear. I need to seek out those friends, and be willing to be one of those friends.
When I have to tell a friend something I know they don’t want to hear, it feels like conflict, and my first inclination is to run. Run far. But I’ve learned, I’ve practiced on a few people, and I’m starting to get the hang of it, although I’ll probably never enjoy it. But telling the truth in love is putting someone else above myself and my comfort, and I’ve asked God to put truthful friends in my life, too.
And question #10 – follow the peace – is a method Loren and I have done over the years. If we can’t arrive at an answer together by prayer and some of the other steps, we test out a decision. Kind of like a practice run. We’ll say, Okay, the answer to this is yes, and let’s sleep on it. More than once, by the next day, we knew in our hearts that yes wasn’t the right answer. We found the peace by stumbling upon the lack of it. Confused yet?
Well, two things I’m so grateful for today – that God does indeed have a plan for our lives (it’s not just up to us to make the best of it), and that He’s ready and waiting to make that plan clear to us.
Probably you know this one by heart:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me in earnest, you will find me…” -Jeremiah 29:11-13
I too love the difference between the faithless and the faithful. "You do what you can with what you know, and when you know better you do better" Hehe, another Dr. Phil quote! If we do all the steps, then through God we will know better.
ReplyDeleteAre unbiased, spiritually sensitive associates in agreement?
This is the one I might need to work on more because this means that I actually have to have "associates"! I tend to surround myself with family and sometimes involving them in personal matters isn't best. And going to someone with a sob story will make them "run far". So what I'm doing is working on creating those friendships. BTW, I'd rather tell it like it is than lie to your face because that weighs heavier on my heart than not taking a step of faith and the discomfort of telling you how I really feel.
I've missed out on God given opportunities more than once and only realize it after the opportunity had past. So as you can see, I'm still working on slowing down to hearing God's voice!
Brandi – I too have missed opportunities and not realized it until after, the good news is the fact that you acknowledge that you missed them means you ARE hearing the whisperings of God. He has used my mistakes or missed opportunities as additional opportunity and a tool to shape my heart!
ReplyDeleteMichele - that verse in Jeremiah makes me cry, (the tears are happy ones now) verse 14 is the glue that held me together while I was struggling at work. You remember how I felt like I WAS in exile, God’s word said to me through Jeremiah:
I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
God has a plan for my life. That verse has given me peace since I was a kid. I always know that God has it under control and I can be confident that whatever in my life is a surprise to Him.
ReplyDeleteWhere I have fallen down on the job I am slowly realizing after today's reading is that I need to soak in His word daily and on top of that I need to be actively looking for and pursuing opportunities of the faithful.
I am not sure (trying to think back here) how many opportunities have come and gone while I have had my head down and just plodding through life. Ignorance really is bliss, isn't it. I don't think I want to continue to be ignorantly blissful and miss out on God's best for me.
too much to think about...my brain hurts...tomorrow will get better.
"Is it reasonable? God expects us to think. His guidance may transcend human reasoning, but it never excludes it."
ReplyDeleteThis one hits home for me because I "heard" God call me to be a lawyer when I was a kid, but never asked this question until my senior year in college. I never thought about the logical progression, deductive and inductive reasoning skills, and other lawyer skills that are needed to be successful. I never asked myself or others if they thought I would be a good lawyer. The LSAT, a college professor and working at a law office were God's gracious ways of opening my eyes to something I never thought before: Do I have the skills to be a lawyer? Using the wonderful brains God gave us is an important part of making sound decisions.