Stepping out before you know how it all turns out—that’s what faith is all about. But many Christians embrace the false notion that it should be easy, or at least simple. And if it’s not, God isn’t in it.
But when we look at Scripture, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there is one thing we know we will encounter every time we change direction in life—resistance.
Do you know where you are headed next in life? Do you know where you should be headed next? If you’re like a lot of us, you may have accidentally fallen into a life direction instead of intentionally choosing your best path.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way.
God created each one of us with unique strengths, passions, and skills sets. He gave us each unique relationship connections that open doors of opportunity unavailable to others.
And He expects us to use it all to more fully reveal His majesty on earth as it is in heaven.
Finding your life direction requires figuring out your strengths. I shared about how I discovered my strengths in this post. But for the Christian seeking to live an authentic life, it will take more than an awareness of strengths to find God’s best for your life.
It will take a Kingdom awareness.
Our strengths reside where our passions and talents unite. So if we devote the bulk of our time to doing things where those two intersect, we will be more productive and more fulfilled.
Why? Because we are doing the kinds of things God wired us to do.
You do not need to be a Christ-follower for this to be true.
But the disciples of Jesus should desire more. Jesus calls us to follow him ahead of career ambitions, the love of money, or even family ties. Our life direction priorities must align with His Kingdom priorities.
What are you good at? Isn’t that the classic question people ask you when you’re trying to figure out your life direction? It’s not a bad question, but it’s not enough. We need to start by figuring out our strengths.
It took me five years to figure out my strengths. It doesn’t have to take you that long.
I worked it in between running a school, getting my MBA, and engaging a family of five or six–however many kids we had at the time. I didn’t get intentional about it, partly because I didn’t get to it until later in life.
Marriage is one of the big ones. Most decisions in life don’t come close to it for life-altering consequences. What to wear, what to eat, how fast to drive, even what job or career to pursue pales in comparison. The potential implications of this question are staggering: How do I know if God wants me to marry this person?
Make the wrong decision when it comes to marriage and it can leave a mark for your entire life — and beyond, really, as children deal with the aftermath for generations.
No pressure; just pointing out what you already know if you are trying to figure out what God wants next for your life when it comes to getting married.
Every day it seems I wrestle with feeling like a failure. You probably don’t have this problem. My plans don’t work out. I don’t achieve what I thought I could have. And then I don’t have time to post the appearance of success on social media so everyone else can think I have it together and they don’t.
Our social media connected world often gives the false impression that some people have arrived.
These people post all sorts of positive stuff all the time. They seem to accomplish so much. They are perceived as the experts in [fill in the blank]. It only makes it worse when we compare our life to what seems to be their perfect world.
I came across an intriguing but sad comment by a reader recently. He said that he once asked God for direction, but God didn’t answer. So he had to make his own way, and it hadn’t turned out well. I couldn’t help but wonder if God had not answered or if this reader simply had not listened or not liked what he heard.
In fact, he had made some pretty serious, even criminal mistakes, all of which he blamed on God for not responding to his request for direction.
I know in my own faith walk, when I choose poorly, it is often the result of trusting in my own wisdom instead of waiting for and insisting on an answer from God.
Panic! It’s what we do when we don’t know what to do. It’s understandable. It’s common. But it doesn’t have to happen when we don’t know what God wants us to do next.
The fourth secret in this series of posts sharing 7 secrets we need to know about God’s will is one I learned — and continue to learn — from coming face to face with uncertainty every day. My first instinctive reaction almost every time, no matter how many times God has provided and led me in the past, is to panic and try to figure it all out on my own.
Maybe I’m the only one to fall into this trap of self-reliance. But I doubt it. When we’re face to face with adversity, our worry clouds our view. Panic sets in. And we tend to miss what is right in front of us — God.
I don’t like not knowing what God wants next. I am wired to perform at my best when I have a plan in place, a structured schedule, and plenty of margin to account for unexpected events. But my quest for certainty often presents a barrier to my relationship with God, because living by faith requires uncertainty.
If you are at all like me, you spend a lot of time and energy trying to get to a place that feels secure. I want to know where the money is coming from, what life direction I should take (or not take), and what I am forgetting to do—before it’s too late.
If you’re a Christian struggling with a decision right now, you may be asking a lot of questions about what God wants you to do next. But are you actually expecting to get answers or just going through the motions? This post is the first of seven in which I share some secrets I have learned about discerning God’s will for our lives when Scripture does not give us clear direction.
In my book A Story Worth Telling, I share the story of how we decided to move to Atlanta after nearly four decades of living in Northeast Ohio. I had sensed a pull in the direction of Atlanta for well over a month before I even mentioned it, first to my wife and then to my life coach Dick Savidge (I highly recommend him if you are in need of Christ-centered life-coaching.)
I’m not one to naturally put a lot of confidence in feelings. It’s just not how God has wired me.
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