God's plan for your life!

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What evidence do we have that God has “a plan for our life”?
If He does, how could we possibly discern the difference between what His plan might be and what we have conjured up ourselves in our own minds?

This popular concept has troubled me since coming back to faith. The popular idea of “God told me to” do this or that, seems to be a purely human construct. How do/would I ever know if God instructed me to do something or if I simply thought it up myself?

I see little or no evidence of such a thing. Isn’t it possible we are all on our own in this regard? We (not God) make the decisions for us. God is either totally removed or standing in the bcakground watching. Simply put how do I know what is from God versus what is a product of my own thought process?

Seems like wishful thinking. Is there a theological perspective to this?
 
Knowing God’s plan is a process of discerning His Will. To discern His will, you use your intellect, the authority that you are under (your spiritual director, spouse, parent), the teaching authority of the Church, and prayer.

For example, a person thought he was called to a certain vocation–he could test this using his natural reason–checking his abilities and natural inclinations. Then, he might consult his pastor, and also, the teachings of the Church (the Church for example would never call a person to be a murderer or abortionist. During this whole process, he would be praying.
 
Mijoy2 said:
What evidence do we have that God has “a plan for our life”?
If He does, how could we possibly discern the difference between what His plan might be and what we have conjured up ourselves in our own minds?

This popular concept has troubled me since coming back to faith. The popular idea of “God told me to” do this or that, seems to be a purely human construct. How do/would I ever know if God instructed me to do something or if I simply thought it up myself?

I see little or no evidence of such a thing. Isn’t it possible we are all on our own in this regard? We (not God) make the decisions for us. God is either totally removed or standing in the bcakground watching. Simply put how do I know what is from God versus what is a product of my own thought process?

Seems like wishful thinking. Is there a theological perspective to this?
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I’m with you. I feel like maybe people are putting words in God’s mouth by saying God has a “plan for your life”.

Or maybe I will one day in retrospact realize what the plan was.
 
mark_a said:
I feel like maybe people are putting words in God’s mouth by saying God has a “plan for your life”.
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Not exactly. He does have a plan for us. God Himself told us this:

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the LORD …” (Jeremiah 29:11–14)

Of course, He doesn’t always show us the entire blueprint all at once. And I do agree that some people are much too free with saying things like, “God spoke to me and He said that …” I am fairly skeptical when people make those pronouncements on a regular basis. In my opinion (I could be right or wrong), if someone thinks he or she is getting direct locutions from God, he should perhaps be testing their authenticity by sharing them privately with a spiritual director rather than announcing them to anyone who cares to listen.
mark_a said:
Or maybe I will one day in retrospact realize what the plan was.
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I think this is absolutely true. Many times in my life things have happened to me, or I have followed certain paths that didn’t seem to make sense or fit together. But years later in retrospect I find that all these individual experiences which seemed utterly disconnected all came together perfectly to prepare me for something I was called to do later in life. God has a plan, but we don’t have to hurt our poor brains trying to figure it out all at once. If we just do our best day by day to love God and neighbor, and give ourselves enough quiet time in prayer each day to keep ourselves open to discerning His will, I think we are following the plan:

“He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Saint Francis de Sales urges us to simply be open and disposed to God’s will, revealed to us in the ordinary occurrences of daily life. He likens this kind of soul to a queen accompanying her spouse, the king, on a journey. When asked where she is going, she says, “I am going where the king is going.” Asked whether she knows where the king is going, she replies, “He told me in general. However, I do not care to know where he is going. I only want to go with him.” Asked her purpose in the journey, she says, “I have none except to be with my dear lord and husband … The places to which he is going are all a matter of indifference and of no concern to me except that he will be there … I only follow …” (More of Francis’s wisdom on the subject can be found in the book *Finding God’s Will for You *by St. Francis de Sales, published by Sophia Institute Press.)
 
Off Topic but:
If I were a girl, this would be me: I meant it
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water, it’s these statements that had people calling you ‘she’ a few weeks ago! 😃 😛 :rotfl:
 
Rawb said:
Off Topic but:

water, it’s these statements that had people calling you ‘she’ a few weeks ago! 😃 😛 :rotfl:
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:rotfl: haha I remembered that.

but I have to say that whenever there are sisters at the Mass I attend, I feel that their presence makes the mass somehow special to me.

Their holiness brings something to the mass.(not that I don’t see it in other people)
 
God’s plan, it might take for ever, but you know what He sometimes (if he thinks we might not really have our heart on God)
lets us go through a lot of ups and downs until we really give in to God.

When I was young I prayed for some 16 years before He showed me what He was doing with me. I prayed “Lord do with me what You want because I know that You are Love and Love could never hurt me or let me down. I prayed this and “Lord I know that You are love but what is Your love I haven’t seen it here on earth. Lord I need much more show me do with me what You want so that I may see You”. I just want to Love You for ever.

Well that is how I started after God allowing me to live since I had an accident and meningitis and a n operation that would kill or heal me they said. So these were and still are my prayers.
Believe me they work to the max.
I am going through another transition at present and it hurts my humanness but the end product and the confidence is what is keeping me in focus.
 
God’s plan, it might take for ever, but you know what He sometimes (if he thinks we might not really have our heart on God)
lets us go through a lot of ups and downs until we really give in to God.

When I was young I prayed for some 16 years before He showed me what He was doing with me. I prayed “Lord do with me what You want because I know that You are Love and Love could never hurt me or let me down. I prayed this and “Lord I know that You are love but what is Your love I haven’t seen it here on earth. Lord I need much more show me do with me what You want so that I may see You”. I just want to Love You for ever.

Well that is how I started after God allowing me to live since I had an accident and meningitis and a n operation that would kill or heal me they said. So these were and still are my prayers.
Believe me they work to the max.
I am going through another transition at present and it hurts my humanness but the end product and the confidence is what is keeping me in focus.
God bless keep going keep focused onGod’s will not your own.

God bless
littleone
 
Thomas Merton used to say something along the lines of ‘for me to become a saint means for me to become who I really am’. There is a long-standing tradition in Christianity that says that discovering God’s plan for your life is the same as discovering your deepest desire. Fredrick Buechner defines vocation as ‘where your great gladness meets the worlds deep need’.

I’ve recently come to really embrace the truth of that. I’ve tried so hard to ‘make’ myself good and push myself into a particular service in order to serve God. And what I’ve discovered is what God is really inviting me to is much gentler, and much more integral to who I really am. I’ve been very influenced by the ideas of ‘The Personal Vocation’ by Herbert Alphonso - the idea of discovering the person we’re meant to be rather than what we’re meant to do. It gives a completely different spin on the notion of vocation, and is, I think, particularly helpful for a younger generation which lives in a much less stable society.
 
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