Does a God have a plan for my life? If so, what does it mean?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Trevs717
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
T

Trevs717

Guest
Hi, I have a question that I’m thinking about a lot and still don’t know the answer/can’t figure out what exactly it means

I’m now in a situation that I don’t know what to do with my life, what career to pursue, whether/when to move somewhere, etc.

I’ve heard that a God has a plan for me, but what exactly does it mean? Is it like God thinks “Okay, so this Trevor guy will find out at the age of 21 years and 58 days that his dream career is to be a lawyer, will go to the collage next year and will do great there & be happy. At the age of 25 he will move to Philly where he will meat his dream wife, Sandy from Seattle, whom he will marry 2 months and 8 days later. If Trevor will want to pursue another career, wouldn’t want to go to collage or would like to marry other girl than this Sandy from Seattle, I will make sure it won’t work because I have this plan for him and it’s better than anything he would think of himself”

I don’t want this to look like I’m making fun of this, but I really want to understand how this works. I’ve done & tried so many things that I don’t know whether there’s really some lawyer-collage-Philly-Sandy plan for me and all the things I’d do will go south because they don’t fit into the God’s plan.

I guess someone will suggest just to believe that a God has a plan for me & everything will work out. But what does that mean? How would a person that believes that everything will work out behave differently than the person that doesn’t believe? When I believe, should I sit on my butt all day and wait for the moment when I realize that I want to be a lawyer and go to collage?

I’m so confused. I’m just afraid that there’s really something God wants me to do and no matter what I do won’t work out unless the thing I’m doing is that thing God wants me to do. Then I’m so frustrated and discouraged to do anything because I’m like "What’s the probability that this is THE THING God wants me to do? Probably not high. So how could I really try to do my best when I know that no matter what I do, it just won’t work?

EDIT: If someone wanted to suggest me to pray to St. Rita of Cascia - I do!
 
Last edited:
Maybe God’s plan is for you to love Him and do the best you can to live a good life regardless of your location or career choice. Maybe God does not will to micro manage your life.
 
God does have a plan for you, even if you don’t know what it is. God’s plan is for you is to love him, and be the best son/student/friend/brother or anything else that you are. A few years ago, when I was thinking about becoming Catholic, I questioned why God would want me to be one. Now, a few years later, everything makes much more sense. God wants you to be happy. You don’t have to sit around waiting. If you really want to be a lawyer, try it. If it works out that’s great, if it doesn’t that’s OK too. I strongly recommend spending time in Adoration, and pray to Our Lady, she will guide you. God bless you.
 
I think about this topic a lot whenever someone says “Well, it was God’s plan” and “Nothing happens without God’s permission.” For example, 9/11 could have been a even worse if an airport security worker hadn’t stopped a would-be hijacker in Orlando. But why that one? Why weren’t the all stopped? As to our personal lives, if God knows everything that’s going to happen… what’s the point of praying and trying to affect people’s actions, right? How does that square with free will?

After going round and round with this a LOT, I finally settled it with myself that it’s kind of like the scene in Back to the Future II in which Doc explains to Marty about the alternative timelines. (If you haven’t seen it, here is a link: Alternative Future - Movie Clip from Back To The Future 2 at WingClips.com) All the time, we are making decisions that affect our future, even if it seems morally neutral, such as whether to go to Restaurant A or B for dinner. Maybe if we go to Restaurant A, we meet our future spouse. Or maybe if we go to Restaurant B, we have an opportunity to make someone’s day better by leaving a nice tip. We can’t know that ahead of time. But God does! And I think with every single one of these decisions we make, the “alternate timelines” of our lives shift to accommodate what God wants for us in both the big picture (who you will marry) and small picture (how you spend your days-- if you’re working out, being present, getting good reading done, etc.) This is where free will comes in.

I believe that if God wants us to meet a very special person or fulfill a certain role, He will find a way to make that happen. For example, if you missed meeting your spouse by going to Restaurant B, God will find a way to make you two meet eventually if that is His will (but first you have to say hello and then nurture the relationship!! Free will!) That’s why I don’t think destiny and karma are a thing. But God is!

We can nurture this, I think, by asking the Holy Spirit to use us for God’s will for us and everyone and asking for the grace to hear His voice and authentic prompts.

Example from my own life: Last summer I approached a friend about working on a project together. But she was very busy and she couldn’t do it right that second. In the year that passed, her mother died and she went through a lot of grief and upset. The project likely would have stumbled, if not failed, because she was tending to this crisis. And a few weeks ago, I felt prompted to approach her again. This time she had space in her life for it and in fact felt excited about it. She told me it felt healing for her and that she was in a good place to work on it. We are both making decisions. Timing and prompting and prayer are all playing a role here.

This is a super complex topic that far, far greater minds than I have labored over. But I feel excited and not like a puppet when I consider my life like this. I simultaneously feel like I have the ability to make my own choices BUT I know that I am divinely guided as well.

Just my thoughts. Feel free to message me if you want a “what does God’s plan mean?!” buddy because I’ve turned this over a lot myself!
 
God knows everything that will happen to us but we must still chose it because there is free will. Praying for your future spouse is a very real thing because your future wife literally exists, she is a person walking this planet. And we know this because God knows who you will ultimately marry (assuming you are called to marriage vocation) and while you have to chose to marry them, God knows what you will chose.

The same is the case with your education, career and so on
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top