God's Will For Your Life

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12: 2

There are times when we wonder what we are doing with our lives.  Are we living up to our full potential?  Are we doing what we feel we've been destined to do?  We ALL have these moments.  Being a Christian means that a person stops living for the plans THEY have set for their lives and starts living for the plans that GOD has for their lives.  God has a plan for each and every person.  You are where you are because God wants you there.  You might not have the best job, the most lavish lifestyle, or even the best family but you are in your position because God wants you there for a reason.  Take the apostle Paul for example.  He was a well-known Christian persecutor not long after the crucifixion of Christ.  One day, on his way to Damascus, Jesus spoke directly to Paul and commanded him to stop persecuting his people.  From that day on, Paul went throughout the world preaching the Gospel of Jesus to the gentiles.  Now, God doesn't always speak to us that bluntly but if you put your trust in Him, you can be sure He'll lead you where you're supposed to be.

As my Nana once told me, "You have plans for your life but God looks at your plans and laughs."  While God may not exactly laugh at the plans I have for my life, she has a point.  Our plans and God's plans don't always line up.  I may want to follow a certain path but God wants me to go a different direction.  As a Christian, I've stopped living for my will and have started living for God's will.  After all, He is the one who created the earth and everything in it.  I think He knows what He's doing :).

Now, as Christians, we pray that God will show us or inspire us to know what His plans are for our life but it's not always easy to know.  But I trust Him so much that I know He will lead me where He wants me to be.  And don't think for a second that because Christians put their faith in God and the fact that He will guide our lives, that we just sit on our butts and wait for miraculous signs.  We still have to be proactive in our lives and set out to accomplish goals.  The difference is that we are aware that at any moment God can tell us to go a different direction.