Life Decisions

I have a lot of interaction with high school and college students. Having lead the youth minstry program at our church for over 6 years, I developed relationships with many of them and feel like I am a more well rounded person because of it. What it has brought to my attention is that these young adults are faced with many difficult decisions as they embarq upon graduation from high school and the following years. As high school students they are often asked the question of what they are going to do with their life. What a HUGE question. I am almost 30 years old and I am still asking myself that question. Do we ever really know the answer? And if we do think we know the answer, are we just kidding ourselves thinking that we can fully determine where our life will lead?

And so these young adults embarq upon the adventure of either going to a university, a local community college or just working. Are any of these decisions the right decision? or the wrong decision? I don't think so. I think that for each and every person there is a different decision and it is one that only they can make. For most, this will be the first time where they truely have to make their own decision about something and suffer all consequences (good or bad) of that decision.

Even if they decide, yes I will go to college right out of high school and get a degree is paper mache, it doesn't mean that the rest of their life will be spent on paper mache. I hate to inform those of you that think what you do know is definitely what you are going to be doing for the rest of your life because . . . it's not. Life has this wonderful way of playing jokes on us and just when we think we have it all figured out something else comes along.

Most recently my husband and I have been met with a crossroad. Just when we were getting set into how life is, we are met with a decision that could possibly change things drastically, throwing us in an opposite direction. We have to make the decision if we want to be business owners. To own a business is a tricky thing. It isn't as simple of a question as many may think. A lot of complicated stress can come along with owning a business. We need to decide if the stress and the fact that the business isn't something we both enjoy, are worth the benefits. So here I am, like I said earlier almost 30, and I am faced with the same questions I faced as a high school student, "What am I going to do with my life? What do I want to be when I grow up?"

It doesn't matter that I have already graduated from college. That I own a home. That I am married. That I have two children. The question is still a HUGE question. It never gets smaller. It stil seems to overwhelm me.

There are two things that I know I must do to be able to answer this question and be content with whatever our decision is.

1. Pray. I need to rely on God to help me make the decision and not try to make the decision all on my own. Not only do I need to pray for the guidance and strength but I also need to spend some time waiting for Hisanswer. I need to watch where He is leading me.

and

2. I need to change the question. Instead of asking myself what I am going to do with my life, I need to ask what am I going to do right now. I need to not think that the decision I make now will forever determine my future because I do not know what my future holds.

So here I am, turning my life over to God and trying to figure out in what direction my next step will take me.