Packing for a trip to the mountains requires a lot of decision making! Often, when we visit Colorado in the fall, it’s still warm enough to wear shorts and short-sleeved t-shirts, but it can also get cold so we pack long pants and long-sleeved shirts. There’s always a possibility that it will get really cold, so it’s also smart to throw in a couple of sweaters, maybe even a jacket. Then, there’s consideration of the activities we will do while we are there, hiking means we will need old clothes and boots to go trekking through the woods. We may decide to go into town for a nice dinner which means we will need clothes for that as well. By the time we finish packing for a couple of days, it looks like we are headed for an around-the-world safari!
Have you ever had that problem packing? It seems to show up for us a lot! We could need this; we could need that; you don’t know what to leave out and you’re afraid to make a mistake!
Isn’t that how it is in life when you make a decision to experience something new or maybe make a radical change in your life? It’s easy to overthink and analyze every decision, asking, “Should we be doing this? Are we going to be happy?” We don’t know what the future is going to hold and sometimes we aren’t exactly sure how to “pack our bags” or rather, how to prepare for what lies ahead. Here are just 3 things we can consider when worrying about whether or not we are making the right decision!
#1: Examine your beliefs
Throughout life, we all find ourselves with big decisions. When we can ask God to show us the things we should let go of or leave out, we can begin to hear his voice and call on our lives. We have to be willing to examine our belief systems, the things we have held tight to our entire lives. Some of the things we are told as children no longer serve us later in life. Are you willing to go back and look at your belief system and ask God if you are being called to something new? If we’re not careful and we never examine our beliefs, we could miss God’s call on our lives. When we can step back and think outside the box about the ideals we’ve held onto so long, we open our hearts to new possibilities and confidence in making decisions even when we face the unknown.
#2: Seek God
If you are serious about looking for God’s will in your life, then you need to be committed to praying and listening every day. It is when we pray, listen and journal every day that we can hear God speak. God’s promise to Abraham, thousands of years ago still applies to us today. God said, “I will speak to those who seek me and I will speak to you in a way that you can understand.”
#3: You don’t have to be perfect
Making a decision is always difficult because you don’t know what the future is going to hold. You do your best to have faith. Remember, God does not ask you to be perfect, God only asks you to be faithful. If you’re looking at your life, examining it the best you can and you’re listening, praying and making the best decisions you can, that is all you can do! Even if you make a mistake or you fail, God will never desert you. God doesn’t ask you to be perfect, God asks you to be faithful.
