Decision

How many decisions have you made in your lifetime?  It doesn’t matter if you’re sweet 16 or in your 90’s, we make decisions every day of our lives.   It may be as simple as “What should I have for breakfast this morning?” to the most important decision of our lives.  “Should I go to college?”  “Is this the person I want to spend the rest of my life with?”  “What do I want to do with my life?”   It can be exhausting!   We also depend on the people around us, family and friends, to help us make those decisions.   Talking about it with someone else helps us to put it all in perspective, and many times I’ve found that listening to your gut instincts is a huge clue.  You know, that achy feeling deep inside when you just know it’s not the right thing to do.  I remember one of those moments when we had a huge decision to make with regards to our future.  We met with our group of friends, who were also trusted advisors.  We laid everything out and they suggested writing down on our whiteboard all the negatives, followed by listing all the positives regarding each possible outcome.  It was totally clear to us what the right decision was when we completed this exercise, especially since I had this terrible sinking feeling when it came to one side of that decision.  I’ve learned to listen to that feeling when my insides have those achy feelings that creep in.  I’ve come to believe it’s the Holy Spirit’s way of guiding me in the right direction.  Have you ever experienced that feeling?  We know that one of the best ways to get direction is spending time in prayer.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a direct line to Heaven?  Maybe you’ve felt the same way.  We pray over and over again, looking for all the right answers, maybe even getting a little frustrated that we’re not saying the right prayers or asking the right way.  BUT, we’re wrong!  If we made what we thought was a wrong decision, maybe that was what was needed, to take that fork in the road, in order to learn that lesson at that time.  Every decision we make forms you and me into the strong disciples we are today (and getting stronger every day).  Tomorrow, we will still have decisions to make.  Let’s slow down when those times come.  Take your decisions to Jesus and talk to Him.  Keep a pad and pencil and write down all the pros and cons and sit back and listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling you over the days ahead.  It would be nice to have Jesus in front of us, face to face, helping us with all our decisions, but then, what fun would the journey be?

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”  Psalm 32:8