Choosing Your Path

"God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him."  Jim Elliot

Everybody takes their own path in life.  Some marry young and begin their families looking toward an empty nest in early midlife.  Some marry and wait many years to have children.  Some marry early with no intentions of every having children.  Some marry late.  Some do not marry at all.  Does one person have a right to determine how another person's life should be?  Of course not.  Each person follows a unique path.  If we are willing to listen to God's directions, He will head each of us down the right path.

This week in Sunday School we were discussing God's sovereignty and part of our scriptures came from Jeremiah 29.  Verse 11 was included in this study which says (and most are familiar with it):  "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. KJV"  {Here it is for my NIV friends" For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.}

I was pondering on that later in the day and was thinking about how hard it is sometimes to let God fulfill His plans.  He will let us charge ahead if we choose to do so.  This led me to thinking how God does not have the same plans for everybody.  He distinctly said "toward YOU"  That is pretty personal---His place for each and every one of His children.  His plans for your path...and every plan must be different because each person has a particular role in God's work.

 It doesn't matter if we are young, old or somewhere in between for us to sometimes rush ahead, or even around, God's plans. If we will stop and listen---yes, I know we don't think we have time for this---we will hear His voice and He will guide us.  Your decisions, your choices, your PATH are strictly between you and God.  

So the next time someone asks you why you are single or why you haven't started a family or why you started so early etc.  remind them that God has the right path for you to follow.  Following His plan is always better than anything we could come up with on our own.  

Dear Heavenly Father,
Help us each to see the need for Your guidance and direction in our lives.  Forgive us for being stubborn and wanting to have things our way.  Soften our hearts and minds so that every choice is based in You.  Thank you for preparing a path especially for each of us in this world so that we can better serve you.
In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen

Choices, change, talents and God

Why is it so hard to make changes?  If we know something isn’t working for us any more, if we feel like we are dragging an anchor behind us with each step, why can’t we just stop doing that and do something else?

Maybe it is just me.  Maybe it’s not.   Maybe it is not uncommon to be afraid of change; to be afraid to take risks; to be afraid to let go of what has been for so long--to reach for something different.  What do you do when you are faced with decisions such as this?  I know that my first way of getting advice is praying.  And then I have a few trusted friends and family members that I know will give me unbiased, very honest opinions (even if I don’t like it).  But in the end, I always know that there must be a sense of peace in my heart that lets me know that this decision is the right one--that this change is truly necessary. 

I read these words from By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho and thought:  I don’t want this to be me. 

“Pitiful is the person who is afraid of taking risks. Perhaps this person will never be disappointed or disillusioned; perhaps she won’t suffer the way people do when they have a dream to follow. But when that person looks back – and at some point everyone looks back – she will hear her heart saying, “What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days? What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you? You buried yourself in a cave because you were fearful of losing those talents. So this is your heritage; the certainty that you wasted your life.”

That passage contains some pretty hard hitting questions—“What have you done with the miracles that God planted in your days?  What have you done with the talents God bestowed on you?”  Wow.  How often do we truly stop to see if we are using all the gifts that God gave us, all the talents He has allowed us to develop?  For myself I have to say, not often enough.   Why would we bury what He has given us instead of using it to our best ability?  I think of the rich man who entrusted 3 of his servants with a set number of talents (5, 2 and 1) and put them in charge of their portion until he returned.  The servants who had received the 5 talents and the two talents doubled what they had for the master.  They were called “good and faithful servant.”  But the one who only received one talent hid his portion for fear of losing it and therefore gained nothing for his master.  He was called “Thou wicked and slothful servant.”  Now which of these would be better?  Of course--to be the good and faithful servant.  (See Matthew 25:14-30 for entire parable.) 

That says to me that we are to use whatever God gave us in a way that is best in His service.  Sometimes to truly become the good and faithful servant we have to have change.  We have take risks.  We have to move away from what is comfortable to where our heart (in hearing God’s voice) leads us.  I think I am often afraid--much like the 3^rd servant.  I’m afraid I’ll mess up somehow; I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong decision; I'm afraid I'll lose what I have.  But I’m even more afraid of looking back over my life with “the certainty that [I] wasted [my] life.”

Think about the gifts and talents God has entrusted to you.  Decide whether you are using those to His glory or simply hiding them.  Sometimes…sometimes we have to get over our fears, take the risks and fulfill the plan that God has for us.  And if we are truly following His lead then we will have no need to fear. “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Which servant will you choose to be?  What risks or changes are you avoiding?  What are you so afraid of?