These days, I’ve been thinking a lot about God’s will.
It’s something I often think about, but even more so right now, because I’ve been asked to speak on the topic at a ladies’ retreat in March. And suddenly, every verse I read, every book I pick up, every sermon I listen to, relates to the topic, and it feels like there’s a ton of thoughts simmering in my mind, all slowly coming together and shaping my thoughts in new ways.
And lately, that new shape to my thoughts has to do with God’s will being like an adventure, and a surprise…
source (Oswald Chambers)
That’s new for me. I’ve written before about how I was a girl with a plan. I like to be in control of each and every detail, so the idea that the unknown could be a “breathless expectation”?? This has not come naturally to me.
I love how Bob Goff writes about it in his book, Love Does:
I think a father’s job, when it’s done best, is to get down on both knees, lean over his children’s lives, and whisper, “Where do you want to go?”
Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It’s not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He’s made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, “Let’s go do that together.”
Most of my life, I’ve been almost paralyzed with fear when making major life decisions – What if I make the wrong choice?? What if I MISS God’s will for my life?
But I don’t think it works that way, anymore. I don’t think He wants it to be something that causes stress and uncertainty. I don’t think it has to be such a big deal. I want to do God’s will, and He wants me to do His will, so I pause and listen, get close to His heart, allow Him to speak to mine, and then He takes my hand and we skip off into the world to have adventures.
Ooooh, there’s part of me that still feels it might be wrong to even say something like that – so flippant and careless! We must be so serious about God’s will, after all!
I seriously want to be in it. Now let’s go do it, and have some fun. We’re going for joy and exciting surprises!
What about you? Do you see God’s will as a stressful mystery to solve, or an exciting surprise to discover?
Ordinary Days 
I would say that I used to think it was a stressful mystery to solve. But that was when I was not spending time with him. When I wasn’t in the Word. When I was thinking I needed to find the one and only path that God had for me. That was so stressful, so frustrating. Then I started spending time with God. Started realizing that he speaks to me through his Word. When I started reading his book, suddenly the whispers of his surprises started coming. Suddenly I didn’t need to figure anything out, I just needed to listen. The promptings of my heart became stronger and clearer. The word he had been whispering started appearing everywhere (like you have been experiencing with God’s will) in everything, confirming what he had been saying. And suddenly it became a very exciting surprise! So now I don’t stress about it – I wait, wonder and watch as God sets his plan in motion, a plan he implements if I am willing. If I am open to his leading, suddenly his path does become an exciting adventure full of surprises and I knew it was all God and none of me!
Very well said, Chantelle!