Well it's Thursday again and I find myself here, pondering the topics of my Online Bible Study's 'Blog Hop'...

One topic seemed to fit in with what I've recently been going through:  "I’m A Big Girl! Think of a time when you thought you could do it all by yourself. What happened to make you change your mind?"

Except as usual, me being me, I have a slightly different take on this topic.  I don't know why the Lord has given me a brain that seems to think about everything just a little differently than most, but I'm thinking He did it for a reason, so I usually feel the need to give my viewpoint, even though it may not be the most popular one.

That being said, I've been in a few situations lately involving myself and other faithful Christian women who find themselves faced with making tough decisions.  While some people, when faced with tough decisions, do have the "I can do it myself" attitude that is mentioned in the topic, often Christians (especially Christian women) seem to toil over decisions, so afraid of making the 'wrong' decision and derailing God's will in the process...

Most of the women in my life are in the latter group, myself included.  We are so caught up with wanting to please God and wanting to do His will that it absolutely ties us up in knots when we don't seem to be hearing His voice or sensing what is His will in our situations.  We pray and we get the opinions of other Christians, and we beg God to speak to us....we look for His answers all around us.  We look for that one thing that will just let us know what He wants us to do.  

So when He seems to be silent and despite our efforts, we are not finding or hearing a clear answer, what then?  We ask Him "Why?"  After all, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, seeking God's help, seeking His guidance."  So why won't he speak more loudly so we can hear?  And we delay our decisions, sometimes for months at a time.  In the process, we are miserable and unable to have closure.  And ultimately it affects our relationship with God.  

Like I said, I have been going through this, recently, and actually I still am.  And the answers I am finding from Him, are not the answer to my problem, BUT rather understanding and insight.  Sometimes that is more important that a simple answer.

You see, the thing is, He wants us to make our own decisions.  He gave us free will.  If He wanted to tell us exactly what to do around every corner, and with every dilemma, He would speak to us clearly.  (And sometimes we do hear Him clearly, I think those are the really important decisions!)  The thing we need to realize is that we are NOT God!  Our decisions are not so important that if we make the wrong one, He cannot fix it.  We can make the wrong decision with the right intentions, and He will still perform His will in our lives.  And against popular opinion, I don't believe that every decision we are faced with is a 'test' from God.  

For example:  Maybe He has certain circumstances set up so that we are supposed to witness to someone.  But we miss his cues and miss the opportunity.  Does that mean that the person we were supposed to witness to is never going to know the Lord?  I think not!   God is perfectly capable of sending another person along to do the job, or even re-routing our path so that we intersect with that same person at another time.

In other words, our decisions are not bigger than God's will!  When faced with two choices in our lives, neither one being sin of course (or the answer would be easy), it could be that either answer is 'okay.'  We cannot single-handedly derail God's will by making the wrong choice.  So perhaps it doesn't have to be as hard making decisions as we have made it out to be.  Or maybe we just already know the answer and we need to give ourselves permission to just go ahead and make that decision.

So, while God wants us to rely on Him and put aside the "I can do it myself" way of thinking, He also wants us to retain our free will and make our own choices.  And as long we are seeking Him, praying and trusting in Him for His guidance, I don't really think there can be a 'wrong' choice.  (Again, as long as sin is not involved in either choice.)  He is always there and His will will always prevail, no matter what 'wrong' choices we may make along the way.  If you take anything away from this, I'd like you to remember that Our decisions are not greater than God's will...

I just hope I can take my own advice now, and put closure to some tough decisions that I am facing!