God's Will

  • Thread starter Thread starter cowgirl
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cowgirl

Guest
When do you know something is God’s Will, or your own? I’m finding myself in a situation where I thought I was following God’s Will, but now it seems to have been my own will I was following.

Rachel <><
 
Its virtually impossible to fully know something is God’s will. We can only get inklings and ideas of what it might be.

But God sees our efforts, and it his by his own grace, not our own doing, that we follow his will. We aren’t allowed to follow his will because we “figure out” what it is. We follow his will because God sees us trying our hardest to do so, and out of his mercy guides us to it.

Ways that we try our best to be able to follow God’s will: Pray frequently. Spend alone time with God. Ask him to give you the gift of discernment. When facing decisions, don’t just go on what you think. Get the opinions of others in the church who you admire as following God’s will. And above all, CONFESSION AND THE EUCHARIST.

God bless.

Josh
 
God’s will for his people in general is crystal clear, its in there, in the commandments, beatitudes, great judgement. When it gets down to persons and situations it gets tougher. the process is called discernment. Ignatius and John of the Cross are the spiritual writers with the best advice, also Francis de Sales. There is another thread on this topic with lots of great stuff.

Usually it comes down to we know perfectly well what God’s will is, we just don’t want to do it are looking for excuses.

Fr. Michael Scanlon TOR has a great little book on discovering what is God’s plan for my life, call or e.m. Franciscan university press, or the Renewed Life catalog.
 
Howdy from one cowgirl to another!

**This is a great question, and one which I have often wondered about myself. I figure that when it’s my will it usually causes me or others pain or sorrow; when it’s God’s will no sorrow or pain is caused to me or to anyone else. If I have to confess it later, well, you know, what I have to confess was my will and not God’s! God would have me confess, of course, but when I do something that is confessable then of course that’s my will not His!! **

**When I am focussed on only myself that is not God’s will either, that is my will. When I’m selfseeking, same story. I have to become aware of my motives to determine what is my will and what’s God’s. When I am not turning my will and my life over to God then I am on selfwill. I have to surrender to God daily, sometimes hourly, to elevate myself above selfwill. **

When I am angry with others again I am in selfwill. God’s will is to love! God’s will is compassion! Mother Teresa is a great one to read to understand God’s will, I think. Also Padre Pio. And Henry Nouwen. It helps me to do spiritual reading of devoted Catholics who understand God’s will, in order for me to grow in my understanding.

I know that when I am in doubt, when I am in sorrow or despair or anger, I am not in God’s will, I am in selfwill. As soon as I realize this I try to pray and draw closer to Our Lord again, asking for His loving arms to bring me closer to Him, that I may abandon my selfwill and seek His again. It works!

And of course, Holy Communion and Confession, absolutely!!

Let us know how it rides, cowgirl!

**Geraldine :tiphat: **
 
I always liked Thomas Merton’s Prayer , especially the first two stanzas:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,

and the fact that I think that I am following your will

does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you

does in fact please you.

For the rest:

spiritwalk.org/merton.htm
 
i agree with asquared - God’s will is crystal clear in the commandments, Gospel, beatitudes, and Last Judgment. The two rules to keep in mind are Love God above all else and Love your neighbor as yourself. All else will fall into place. I think that sometimes very religious people obsesss too much about whether they are doing God’s will in a certain situation where the choices are between two actions, neither of which is inherently sinful or good (for example, I knew a person who was obsessed with figuring out whether or not it was God’s will for her to major in biology or music). I think that alot of things like that God leaves up to us and God is more concerned that we follow His commandments in whatever we choose to do. Don’t sweat the small stuff - keep your eyes on the big picture and remember the only ultimate rule is LOVE.
 
**
Howdy from one cowgirl to another!
Click to expand...
😃 howdy!! always good to hear from another catholic cowgirl, not a lot of us out there!!

thanks for all the advice. I’m trying hard to keep myself focused on God, and I’m finding myself becoming closer to Him, which is one good thing that has happened out of all of this. when you go your own way, you definately see how finite you are, and how stupid…its just so hard for me because I felt so confident that I was following God’s Will, not mine…is that pride? if it is, how do you “stop” it?

Rachel <><**
 
It’s just like riding a horse. Look in the direction you want to go.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top